me, in a nutshell … or not
Conservative Vegan seems a bit of an oxymoron, doesn’t it?
Well, after decades of thoughtful insight and accumulated ‘ah-hah’ moments, I can tell you it is not. Contrary to liberal ideology, conservatism and veganism share essential core principles and values. Since I have embraced veganism my life has been fundamentally transformed both spiritually and outwardly.
Christian …
Before anything I am Roman Catholic. Not a Newchurch Catholic, but a pre-Vatican II Traditional Catholic who attends Tridentine Latin Mass every Sunday. Well, nearly every Sunday. Nobody’s perfect. 
From my faith flows all that I hold sacred: God’s redeeming love, a strong sense of right and wrong, charity, free will, family, and the the sacredness of life. Bound by this system of complimentary beliefs and values, my faith, conservatism and veganism integrate seamlessly into my daily life.
Conservative …
As a Reagan conservative I believe in limited government, a free market economy, low taxes, a strong national defense and freedom of religion and expression. I support the second amendment, and as a responsible gun owner I am prepared to protect my life, my loved ones, my home and country with my S&W 686+ .357 Magnum (for protection) and S&W .22 (for target shooting). I am NRA certified in Basic Pistol/Revolver Shooting, and Home Firearm Safety. I am against hunting for sport but I will defend your right to do so in the hope that you will someday see the light.
Vegan …
Basically, there are health vegans and ethical vegans. Many vegans are both, which would be me. Health-wise, I believe that a diet high in animal fat and casein from dairy products is a trigger for many of our Western diseases, particularly heart disease and cancer. And from an ethical standpoint, I believe that God’s instruction for mankind to behave as benevolent stewards of His kingdom on earth has been a tragic failure. Mankind must cease to be motivated by selfish, political and monetary gain, and instead work to eliminate the shameful and gruesome inhumane practices of factory farming for food and fur, indiscriminate hunting, poaching and other animal cruelties that threaten the very definition of our humanity.
Each of us is responsible for preserving this beautiful Earth that God created for us and all His creations. However, unless we protect our liberty and our security our children will not have a healthy environment to enjoy. Therefore, we cannot preserve our environment at the risk of losing our security. To that end we can and must responsibly extract fossil fuels in our own country while we develop reasonable alternatives resources. As well, the man-made global warming hoax should be ended before there is any further consideration of instituting the financially disastrous Cap and Trade bill. These are just two of many politically charged issues propped up by the Progressive ideology of the Far Left that threaten to irrevocably harm the security of our country.
Most importantly, preserving our environment begins at home. If we all choose to live simply, eat healthfully, consume minimally, acquire in moderation, and treat others, animals and our surrounding environment with respect and kindness we would not be facing most of our impending financial, environmental and social calamities.
This also explains why I am Pro-Life, why I believe that human life is God-given and precious, that it begins at conception, that to willfully kill innocent life is murder. Conversely, I believe Capital Punishment is warranted in certain complicated cases. Even Christ believed in it.
…
I can assure you that I have not come by my views lightly. Youthful boneheaded decisions, misguided beliefs and abdicated values were followed by years of soul searching, Bible study, prayer and meditation, reading, examining relationships, observing – and plain ol’ thinking. From all of this I can attribute the present clarity of my humbled and resolute heart, mind and soul to the unbending strength of my faith in my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Blessings!
12 comments
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November 17, 2009 at 5:31 am
mutteringsfromthemoor
thanks for your comment. You can rest assured that our lamb will not end up on a plate. We rescued her at one day old as her mother had abandoned her and its been a long and emotional struggle over the past 7 weeks to get her to the healthy lamb she is now. As soon as she has been weaned off the bottle she will be going to live in a lovely Animal Sanctuary…have a look here:
http://mutteringsfromthemoor.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/annies-new-home/
November 17, 2009 at 4:17 pm
vegantess
what a wonderful story. God bless you!
November 21, 2009 at 6:43 pm
trishsutton
Hi! Your lasagne look great! What’s your name? Are you on Facebook? I’m always looking for Christian vegan friends. Trish Sutton
October 8, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Andrea
Hi, Just come across your blog, great to meet another Conservative Vegan, I m a Conservtive County Councillor in the UK, and people assume that I am a Liberal just because I am a vegan and love animals, enjoyed reading your blog, best wishes, Andrea x
October 12, 2010 at 8:56 am
conserVegan
Nice to meet you, too, Andrea
Yes, we conservative vegans are slowly growing in numbers. All the best to you in your political career – we need people like you to espouse the benefits of living by conservative principles, and the vegan lifestyle fits right in with conservative principles.
January 23, 2011 at 11:14 am
HB
So there really are other vegan conservatives! My wife and I converted to veganism in June 2010. Prior to that, we were meat lovers that were trying to eat less meat for health reasons. Then someone at work loaned me the “Skinny Bitch” book. Aside from the crass vocabulary, the book was quite enlightening! It just had never dawned on me what cruelty was involved in the treatment of animals or how gross some of the food was that I had enjoyed and eaten all my life! I convinced my wife to read it before gently mentioning the possibility of going vegan. She was all for it! So we began the process of converting all our food stores to vegan (and organic when possible). I just finished reading “The China Study” as well, which is more validation that eating animal protein is not healthy.
We are very conservative in our political views – Glenn Beck conservative. I am a Navy Veteran and my wife and I attended 8/28 in Washington DC. We were on the south side of the reflecting pool. Reagan is one of my heroes.
Like you, we are Roman Catholics. But my faith in the Church is not what it should be.
January 29, 2011 at 8:21 pm
conserVegan
Hi HB – Well, we have everything you mentioned in common … regarding the Catholic faith, when I found a local church in the DC area that held a traditional Latin Mass, ie espousing traditional pre-Vatican II Catholic teachings, I felt like I had come home after wandering in the desert for 40 years. Now, I look forward to going to Mass every Sunday, studying the Douay-Rheims Bible and being the best traditional Catholic godmother and ethical vegan I can be for my new grandson. God Bless you and your wife for going vegan. It’s fits right in with the conservative philosophy of ‘doing the right thing’ in life.
February 21, 2011 at 12:48 pm
HB
My wife and I broke the picket line at the Capitol in Madison to get to Governor Walkers supporters on Saturday. This is madness. I work for the State and did the math to see what the effect the legislation would have on me personally. If I am no longer forced to be a member of the union, then not having to pay the dues each month helps to compensate for the other losses in pay because of the retirement and health insurance increases. For me it’s almost a wash with the added benefit of knowing that I am not paying union dues to promote the election of officials I don’t agree with! That really irks me.
PS
I grew up outside DC in Forestville, Maryland and went to Suitland High school (many years ago). Are you on the virginia side, Maryland side or in DC itself? Email me if you would like to keep it private.
August 27, 2011 at 10:22 am
Theresa McKinley
Thank the good Lord for this blog!
I’m a vegan Catholic and have hosted/co-hosted an animal rights radio program on our local university radio station for ten years.
I have been on hiatus for the summer because of family situations and burn out with having to deal with animal issues on a daily bases.
In the last few months, I’ve had a very strong calling to include pro-life issues on my program and did put one together just from a ‘secular’ point of view. The sources for my program that afternoon were National Geographic’s DVD on the development of a baby in the womb and Dr. Alveda King’s Blood Money.com documentary.
I know that I’m walking a thin line with this radio program since I am very conservatively Catholic and our station manager and staff were involved with the ‘Gay Pride’ day festivities which lets me know where they all stand on that issue.
I’ve debated giving up this program but feel that possibly God is calling me to use it for the greater good – pro life, euthanasia issues, etc.
I’ve told my listeners (don’t know how many) that this earth was made for us, not ‘we were made for the earth’. It’s frightening to read VegNews and other sources mention the carbon footprint that each person leaves on this planet and so they will not be conceiving and having children and people who are blessed with many children are now being vilified and called ‘selfish’.
Again, than God that I stumbled upon this blog because I feel all alone in this secular, meat eating world.
I know so many great people who haven’t a clue about the cruelty involved in eating animals (family members included) and they don’t want to hear the true – I’m just a fanatic and take matters to the extreme!
Sorry for this long rant, but now that I’ve found this blog, I hope to become part of this wonderful family.
August 27, 2011 at 11:11 am
tm
Just to clarify, I have many gay acquaintances that I respect, however, I
believe that marriage is between one man and one woman.
Everyone deserves human rights, however marriage is not a right, it is a sacrament instituted by Christ.
Civil ceremonies between two people, whatever their sex is something completely different and the two should not be confused.
January 2, 2012 at 6:44 pm
conserVegan
perfectly stated
January 2, 2012 at 6:33 pm
conserVegan
Hi Theresa –
That is right, you are not the ‘lone ranger’ in your deeply held beliefs. I hope you do not relent to the forces that push against you in the broadcast world. Instead, turn the negative feedback into positive energy, responding with patience and knowledge. I always remind myself that I was in flesh-eaters shoes once, ignoring the gruesome facts because I wanted what I wanted.
“Never, never, never give up.” Winston Churchill