I hope you don't mind, Mike, but I'd like to make a point about politics while I have a chance. I think you still have a tendency to use "liberal" to mean "open-minded and forward thinking," and since people generally agree that conservatism is the opposite of liberalism you assume "conservative" must mean "ignorant and idiotic." I think that's why you told me that *I* am a liberal. But while "open-minded and forward-thinking" might be a dictionary definition of "liberalism," the political parties and movements who have identified themselves as "liberal" and "progressive" basically since monarchy went out of style have all had some fundamental philosophical similarities, and it's the common traits of those parties and movements that people refer to today as political liberalism. Insisting on using "liberal" to mean "open-minded and forward-thinking" is about as anachronistic as insisting on using "gay" to mean "happy," and will lead to about as much misunderstanding.
The whole thing is complicated by the fact that liberals like to think that their political views ARE open minded and forward thinking, and the opposing views ARE ignorant and idiotic. But notice that even conservatives, who tend to consider liberalism narrow-minded and intellectually lazy, generally agree with the liberals on who IS a liberal. They wouldn't do that if they thought the word meant "open-minded and forward-thinking."
The whole thing is complicated by the fact that liberals like to think that their political views ARE open minded and forward thinking, and the opposing views ARE ignorant and idiotic. But notice that even conservatives, who tend to consider liberalism narrow-minded and intellectually lazy, generally agree with the liberals on who IS a liberal. They wouldn't do that if they thought the word meant "open-minded and forward-thinking."
I'm going to try to present my understanding of what the two groups believe with as little prejudice and with the benefit of as much doubt as I can. In my experience the people who identify themselves as "liberals" generally believe that in a well-ordered and just society no one will suffer too much more than anyone else. They believe that everyone has an equal right to comfort and happiness, and that whatever form of government ensures as many people as possible are as happy and as comfortable as possible is the right form of government. They tend to believe that the ends justify the means: if it is necessary to interfere in some people's lives to ensure the greatest good for the greatest number, then it is acceptable to do so; it is especially acceptable to interfere with people's lives if those people have "more than they need" while others nearby have much, much less.They consider feasting while your neighbor starves a crime comparable to taking his food yourself, and don't really mind stepping in to fix the situation. On the other hand, they generally believe that if the well-being of a handful of people must be sacrificed in order to secure the well-being of a multitude, then the sacrifice is worth making. They generally value kindness over correctness and mercy over justice. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" is a logical extreme of this mindset, but most people who identify with it don't carry it that far. A variety of philosophies can be used to justify this set of preferences, but liberals generally tend to identify the good with the pleasant, and to an even greater degree the bad with the painful. They usually consider suffering and death the things to be most avoided in life, and tend to think that things like property, propriety, and even freedom of choice are unimportant when trying to prevent suffering.
While liberals tend to begin with a picture of what a good society would look like and build downwards towards what rules will produce that society, conservatives tend to begin with what rules they believe life ought to operate on and are generally content to let society look after itself. They believe that everyone has the right to live their own life as they see fit, and they don't recognize anyone's right to interfere with anyone else. Usually, they just want to be left alone to live their lives and don't appreciate being told what to do. They also don't usually care to tell other people what to do. (This is, incidentally, why the conservative public tends to have such a disconnect from Republican politicians: a thirst for power over other people is a very un-conservative sort of trait and politics rarely attracts "real" conservatives.) On the other hand, they often believe in a set of moral laws governing what people are and are not supposed to do. Conservatives generally identify right conduct, or adherence to these laws, with the good, and immoral conduct with the bad, and think that pain, pleasure, life, and death, are all less important than virtue. While a conservative might happily sacrifice himself for the good of someone else, or accept someone else's sacrifice, they won't volunteer anyone else for an extra burden. A conservative believes that the ends never justify the means and would rather be dead than be a bad person. This set of preferences is very difficult to support with an atheistic or existentialist philosophy, but some people manage it.
A conservative moral code usually stresses the importance of honesty, fair play, discipline, and loyalty.Conservatives respect property and propriety. They also tend to respect authority whenever they acknowledge it, and usually hate to make a nuisance of themselves, which is why everyone seems to think they're a minority, and why it took so long for a real resistance to the rising liberalism in this country to form. They are also often reluctant to part with tradition, which can lead to the perpetuation of bad or outdated things, like slavery.
A conservative moral code usually stresses the importance of honesty, fair play, discipline, and loyalty.Conservatives respect property and propriety. They also tend to respect authority whenever they acknowledge it, and usually hate to make a nuisance of themselves, which is why everyone seems to think they're a minority, and why it took so long for a real resistance to the rising liberalism in this country to form. They are also often reluctant to part with tradition, which can lead to the perpetuation of bad or outdated things, like slavery.
In practice, because liberals believe the ends justify the means and that we have the right to interfere in people's lives for the greater good, liberal philosophy is an excellent vehicle for the power-hungry to come to power. Under a liberal administration the power and size of the government tends to steadily grow: first to combat this societal evil, then to right that systemic wrong, and then to provide that other social service. Every step of the way tends to increase taxes and decrease freedoms.Conservatives see things like the sin tax on cigarettes and the safety net of social security as unwanted and unjustified intrusions on their life and their freedom of choice, and are concerned that those restrictions and intrusions have been becoming more common and more pronounced. They're worried about where this trend is going.
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