Over the last few years, I have come to the realization that America is inherently a very conservative nation.

I know every 4-8 years, there seems to be an oscillation between Republicans and Democrats in the White House and who controls Congress, but by in large I feel America is to its core a conservative state.

Before I explain myself, let me first define how I define ‘conservative’. To put it simply: guns, god, and private is better than public.

So let’s look at America as compared to other countries that are as developed technology-wise with a stable government:

• Guns: Our gun laws are about as lax as a high school math teacher one week before retirement. Compared to other countries, America is just handing out guns to anyone with a valid credit card. The UK, Japan, Germany, etc, are all countries that pretty much don’t allow private citizens to have guns. Even in Canada, a place where there is tons of rural areas that allow for hunting, it is much tougher to purchase a gun. After mass shootings and the like, gun laws never change at all. And the result? America is 11th per capita in gun-related deaths, behind these amazingly stable countries: Honduras, Venezuela, El Salvador, Swaziland, Guatemala, Jamaica, Colombia, Brazil, Panama, and Uruguay. Fine company huh. USA! USA!

• God: Despite our founding fathers genius foresight to separate church and state, this holy war goes on and on and on. Churches are tax-exempt? Uh, OK. The Christian Right is the second strongest lobby group in DC behind the NRA? Yeah, great. Anyway, if you think about, even the more liberal presidential candidates have to prove their Christian piety by toting around some religious adviser in their posse. America and their overzealous nature towards Christianity parallels Iran’s approach to Islam than it does to the UK, Sweden, France, etc. Hell, just look at the way we approach the abortion issue.

• Private > Public: There is no doubt there is a place for private companies in any country. A lot of innovation and jobs come out of the thirst for profit. But there is a limit to privatization and I think we are seeing it now. Things that get to be enjoyed by the masses such as health care, education, public transportation, are all being challenged by this idea of privatization. No other country privatizes this many industries. I think you can really see it first hand in our falling infrastructure. Our infrastructure was the envy of the world in the 1950’s due to Eisenhower and the big push to create freeways, airports, and the like. And who funded all of these huge projects? The American government, at least for the most part. Now our infrastructure is old, worn away, and needs to be fixed. But with what money? Taxes in this country are on the lower end as compared to other developed nations. The Congress is always fighting about whether this should be funded with public or private money. And now…..well America is so far behind other nations in terms of transportation, airports, roads, etc, it is embarrassing. Private money is good when the end result is for profit. But for community needs, private money tends to cut, scrimp, and go on the cheap.

Because of all of that, I cannot blame Chuck Schumer for caving a bit about the government shutdown and DACA. This is a country that is inherently conservative, so no matter what a Democrat tries to do, right or wrong, there is so much push back from the masses, it is like Sisyphus rolling the stone up the hill.

I know public opinion polls favor some overall liberal ideas, such as more gun control, DACA, abortion, etc. But look how our states are gerrymandered. Look who is the leading news network. Look who is the #1 radio talk show host.

It is not easy being blue in a sea of red.