To be accepted as a contemporary conservative in today's America, one need only recite the three following maxims; smaller government, lower taxes and less spending. There is no requirement to comprehend or even consider the outcomes of these, just the unquestioned faith that smaller government, lower taxes and less spending are the Holy Trinity of the American conservative; smaller, lower, less. 

If it can be shown that  smaller, lower, less results in a dwindling middle class, social unrest, a virtual oligarchy, and greater suffering for the unfortunate poor,  the American conservative will continue to defend their faith and argue that things are that way because we have not gotten small enough, gone low enough, or less enough.  It's as if to be an American conservative, one must approach government and social systems in the same manner in which an anorexic views food.  

Despite the obvious benefits and pleasures that food provides, the anorexic views food as a threat to the freedom to have control over ones body.  Since food is perversely seen as a threat to ones control or liberty, food becomes the enemy and the only way to accept food is to require it to be always smaller in size, lower in volume, and less in calories - with no requirement to comprehend  or even consider the outcomes.  It becomes an issue of mastery and control, of independence, of freedom, regardless of the obvious unhealthy behavior.   Sound familiar?  

A true, rational conservative cares only about the size of government, tax rates, and government spending relative to the result of each and the society each fosters.  A conservative starts with certain ideals, observes their condition in a given society, and then continues to observe and adjust the size of government, the amount of taxation and the spending of government to meet those ends.  It’s not about amounts, it’s about results. 

But to do so takes more than simple slogans and faith, it takes observation, contemplation, and action.  

Given the actual results of the Reagan and Thatcher “conservative” revolutions, the Bush “compassionate conservative” agenda and similar actions posing as conservative, it’s quite clear to anyone with a rational mind and a sense of history that these actions produced very little good for a majority of those affected. 

I still consider myself to be a conservative as I still hold true that there are basic institutions worth saving and protecting; a large middle class, the family unit, a peaceful society, a mentally and physically healthy society, an educated society.    But I call myself the Feral Conservative because the actions of my contemporary conservatives have greatly diminished or potentially destroyed those very same institutions.