You might as well be white.

Emil Guillermo nailed this one. He caught my interest by talking about his 16 year old daughter - something I hold in common with him. But he does so much more with this column. The title of the post is a striking line from the article, a cause to take a moment and contemplate. I, like him, do not consider myself conservative. Mostly.

The Good Kind Of Conservative"At that point, my personal conservatism shows its limits. It's too selfish, and not broad enough for society at large. If you want justice, fairness and equality for all in an America that is diverse in race and thought, conservatism doesn't move fast enough. We need more yeses. There are too many nos."

Last night I went with Kathleen down to the Columbus Music Hall, a somewhat renovated (let's say converted) Edwardian firehouse, where every Monday night Vaughn Weister leads his Famous Jazz Orchestra through three sets of big band magic. Kathleen goes there every Monday and Vaughn graciously invites her up to play string bass for a few numbers. Last night it was snowing, so I used it as an excuse to tag along. I couldn't be prouder.

She's beautiful and talented and talking about making a run at getting in to Juliard. I have no idea if she has what it takes, but I support her in trying. I must admit I'm a little nervous at the prospect of her moving to New York and immersing herself into the Jazz scene, but I know there will be some terrific people there to look out for her if she can make it.

But she's still 16 and that means sometimes I have to be aggressively conservative. I don't like her dating and so far she hasn't. I am vocally opposed to a "friend" who is a college freshman that stays in frequent contact. Nice kid, but a college boy has no business around my high school junior daughter. You want to see how quickly I switch from my support for global pacifism to direct and violent intervention then keep heading down that path, mister.

My younger one turns 12 on Friday and has been chafing for months at our rule that she had to wait for her birthday to get her ears pierced. When both turn 18 they have my blessings and their conduct is none of my business. I wish them to be happy and healthy and near to me as possible so I can spoil my grandchildren rotten.

My family values are extremely protective and hardly liberal. That's another reason that I think that government is best at only two levels - one federal and remote with virtually no limits to behavior and a second, as local as possible that provides the services that directly touch me, like educating my children and picking up the trash. I'll deal with the behavior, thank you.