Who is this guy?

That would be me, Jim Langcuster, a native of the north Alabama Hill Country who has lived and labored as a media professional on the plains of east Alabama for almost 22 years.  I hold two bachelor degrees in political science, sociology and telecommunications from the University of North Alabama in Florence, earned in 1982 and 1983, respectively.    My master’s degree in telecommunications comes from the University of Alabama. 

Who am I?  Probably one of the most boring, conventional people you’ll ever meet.   Like most people of this type, I’m rather sedentary and bookish —  a voracious reader, who finds history, theology and political biographies of all types especially appealing.   I also tend to be an avid reader of blogs and newspaper op-eds, though my interest waxes and wanes, depending what else is going on in my life.

Why did I start “Musings of an American Red Tory?”  Because, frankly, I’m mad as many of you are — mad at the present state of American conservatism.  Simply put, I no longer believe that conservatism — at least, as it’s currently constituted and understood by the ordinary man and women on the street — is relevant to the American political scene.   Why?  Well, I could go on and on about this, but in a nutshell, it is because America is a center-right rather than a right-wing nation.  Yes, I’m the first to concede that most of us, including your humble servant, mistrust big government.  Compared with our western European cousins, we like our government comparatively small, lean and manageable.  Even so, we’re not hostile to government in principle. We have gladly accepted, and, in many cases, genuinely revered some government programs.  Need I even mention the GI Bill — or land grant universities, or Interstate highways?  I only scratch the surface. 

It is high time that sane conservatives began drawing radical distinctions between what I consider to be real conservatism and the narrow, rigid, theocratically-tinged ideology that passes for conservatism today.   

I consider myself something of an expert on the subject.  Roughly a decade ago, I labored in the ideological vineyards of the far right.  Sometime, oh, in my early adulthood, I abandoned the hardy, practical, Eisenhower conservatism of my north Alabama upbringing for the booby-hatch variety of the hard right.  For a time, this involvement became rather exotic.  For several years, I regrettably was involved not only in the League of the South but the ill-fated Southern Party, one of the League’s unfortunate spin-offs.  (More about that later.) 

It was one of the great mistakes of my life, but like most unfortunate experiences, it forced a radical reappraisal of my worldview.  I have become in mid-life a realist with a unique hatred of isms, isms of every description.  

So why did I choose such a quirky term as “red tory” to describe myself and to title this blog?   For that matter, why did I choose a heretofore exclusively Canadian term?    Because first and foremost, conservatism is about realism — understanding the human condition and trying to come to terms with it.   By and large, Canadian red tories have come to terms with that fact far better than most of us.  Yes, there have been attempts throughout U.S. history to describe conservative realists, but most of these terms — modern Republican or dynamic conservative among them — simply have too esoteric a ring to them. I like red tory because it not only is short and succinct but grounded in a rich political history. 

Whatever we choose to call ourselves, I believe it is high time for authentic conservatives — realists as opposed to the narrow ideologues who now dominate what passes for American conservativism — to step forward and to regain their preeminent standing within the U.S. political landscape.

In the meantime, if you would like to complain, to take issue with something I’ve said, or just to say hello, feel free to write me at AmericanRedTory@aol.com.  Regards, Jim Langcuster, an American Red Tory