@ gordon garland, I certainly didn’t intend to “talk down” to you, but rather to hear and respond to you.

If you believe I talked down to you, I’m sincerely sorry. Not at all my intent.

If you’d rather “leave it there” and not continue, that’s fine and your choice, and I will respect that.

As for what I mean by “conservative,” I’m way to the right of most of the current Republican leadership. My votes in the primaries for Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Ted Cruz, while I wouldn’t fully endorse all of their views, will give a good sense of my basic approach. I had major problems with John McCain and even more problems with Mitt Romney, which is why I opposed them in the 2000, 2008, and 2012 primaries. As for Trump, I feared he was going to lead the Republicans down to a landslide defeat in 2016, but certainly thought he was the “lesser of two evils” compared to Hillary Clinton. Trump turned out to be a lot better in the White House than his all-over-the map political statements prior to 2015 and 2016 indicated.

Using the standard “three legged stool” definition of “conservative,” I’m a social issues conservative who also cares deeply about national defense and economic conservative issues, but when push comes too shove, I’ll follow the William F. Buckley approach voting for the most conservative electable candidate. That means sometimes I’ll vote for somebody in the Republican primary whose track record on social issues is problematic but who can win a general election based on his national defense or economic policy positions.

I hope that answers your question about what I mean by “conservative.” I’m definitely **NOT** some sort of establishment “moderate” Republican.