Posted on 12/04/2003 5:04:16 PM PST by insanitor
Concerning the economy, conservatives believe in "supply side" economics, while liberals typically believe in "robin hood" economics, (or socialism, whatever you want to call it) which can be as close to communism as you can get without the red flag or all the bells and whistles attached, while under the guise of "compassion".
Liberals typically say "I want to tax the rich" when the tax system in America makes it IMPOSSIBLE to do so given the way in which the tax and economical systems function.
So if a liberal wants to "tax the rich" it usually ends up costing EVERYBODY, rich and poor alike.
Think of it as a website.
Every backbone or big website is a rich corporation. If it goes down, the users and consumers have no support and thus the corporation loses money and everybody who works for them loses money.
The consumers don't get what they need and everything is affected across the board.
Another philosophical difference between liberals and conservatives is that conservatives believe in helping people to help themselves without helping so much so as to make someone dependant, or lazy.
Concerning government assistance, conservatives define compassion as helping you so that you are self sufficient, while a liberal believes compassion as giving regardless of any pragmatistic considerations, i.e. dependance or laziness.
Liberals intellectualize compassion to the point of believing that everyone is essentially too stupid or unable to help themselves and thus need the government to intervene. It's a "Cradle to the grave" idea of government from which the government does everything for you because of it's belief that people are unwilling or too stupid to do it for themselves.
It's an arrogant way of thinking, it's like saying "We know how to run your life better than you do."
Conversely, conservatives trust the American people to run their own lives.
Hope this clears up some differences between liberals and conservatives.
Liberals use fear tactics to motivate the elderly to vote for them.
They spread rumors like "The republicans are going to take away your healthcare."
Liberals want "Hillary care" I.E. socialized medicine for the elderly, as they have in Canada and Cuba. (Look up "Hillary care" on google.com) they want institutionalized healthcare where people are insured by the state, but they do this in an effort to gain votes while IGNORING the financial costs involved or the damage it would do to the taxpayer and the economy.
It all goes back to what I said before. Liberals want more govrnment control so the government can tell you how to live your life. They think that people are too stupid or unable to manage their own lives, and use "compassion" to justify their beliefs. Liberalism is by essence against the freedoms for which many have died for.
So old people become scared and vote for the liberals, thinking that it's a safer bet.
Having compassion is not a sin. Forcing someone to be taken care of without the consent of another person's money of which was actually stolen for the purpose of taking care of that first person whether their needing to be taken care of or not, is.
Here is an INCOMPLETE list of Liberal LIES I'll give you from memory:
Rebublicans are:
Nazis
Racists
For the rich
For giving tax breaks to the rich
Without compassion
Rich
Religious fanatics
Abortion clinic bombers
Poisoning the environment
Misanthropists
For killing animals
Republicans are going to take away:
Health benefits for old people
Food out of the mouths of schoolchildren
Medicare
Medicaid
Any other government benefit
Amnesty for immigrants.
Yes.
And, as you know, the upper half (50%) of all income earners pay 96% of all federal taxes.
Since the bottom half the country pays almost no income tax, how can we tax anyone but the "rich"?
Except with respect to what sorts of things one may ingest (drugs), read (porn), do with other consenting adults (sodomy), or do with one's own money (forced disclosure about transactions) and a few other things. In those cases, trust is absent and the government is asked to step in and gently guide us to the path of righteousness - or jail us if we don't comply.
Yes, and between conservatives lecturing me about those things and liberals grabbing my wallet, I'll take the conservative lecture every time. But then, I don't smoke crack, go to the theater with Pee Wee Herman, or do unnatural acts in bathhouses (or anywhere else). People concerned about those things should probably vote Democrat and hand over their wallets, I suppose.
On the other hand, hasn't it been about twenty years since cops cared about people smoking joints, "reading" porn, or buggering people (except at highway rest stops)?
The question in your thread title is one visited by hundreds of threads over the years here.
We all have our initial feeling on this issue that we have when we arrive at this forum. We also pick up a sense of additional outrage by what we read.
But often times we are confronted with respected family members, friends and our countrymen in general that are not aligned with us and it causes us to investigate this question in depth.
One of the best looks at this issue was presented by the political economist and commentator Thomas Sowell in his "Vision" series.
The Vision of the Annointed is the first in that series. It is a practical look at the methods and mindsets of the left in how their views are foisted upon the government and the society at large.
A Conflict of Visions is the second, and to me the most illuminating. It looks at the issue by the realization that two world views really make up the source of the divide. Sowell refers to them as the difference between the Constrained view of mankind and the Unconstrained View. It is the best analysis of this issue I have read.
Lastly, there is The Quest for Cosmic Justice that examines the true ends of men's quest for order and regulation by government. It looks at what has been tried, and more specifically, why it has been tried and if it bore fruit.
One of the great things about this forum is its ability to introduce each of us to voids in our reading and knowledge.
I've tried to stop using the terms "liberal" and "conservative" because they are now quite meaningless.
Both philosophies, at least at the top, are better described as "statist".
It's simply a matter if you prefer the left boot on your neck, or the right boot on your neck.
This is a good point. That number continues to grow each day, and it hasn't helped that the Republicans are busy taking so many people off the taxrolls.
They've reduced marginal rates by 10%, at most, but at the same time they have created millions of additional people that owe no income tax.
As such, they will be more likely to vote for politicians who raise the taxes of the rest of us.
That 10% tax cut will pale in comparison to the massive tax increases coming down the road.
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