With the Republican presidential candidates striving desperately to out-conservative one another, perhaps it is time for the rest of us to think hard about what conservatives really want to conserve. The most obvious thing is tax breaks for the very wealthy. The claim is that the rich will use their extra dollars to create jobs. I have actually been to Grand Cayman and I couldn't decide which were more numerous, banks or diamond sellers. I don't really know what fraction of the multi-millionaire dollar ends up on that island, but I suspect that for the poor and middle class, the fraction is close to zero. If money is spent, rather than hidden away, there is a multiplication effect which actually does create jobs.

Freedom from government intrusion into our lives is also to be conserved. The exception, of course, is a woman's reproductive system.

States rights versus federal rules is also important because states can then choose to compete with one another for new businesses by enacting tough laws for labor unions and weak ones for clean air and water. Otherwise they would have to compete on the bases of a quality work force, avalability of resources, nearness to markets, excellence of schools and pleasant climate.

Of course we can also conserve our low status among nations for the production of scientists and engineers, merely by cutting federal assistance to college students. Those who are wise enough to select wealthy parents, or are willing to graduate with crushing debt, can still make it.

The right of health insurance companys to exclude sick people is another important issue.

Laurence McAneny

Granite City