Funny how political differences especially online can foster great anger.
The great line of demarcation in modern poli
tics, Eric Voegelin used to point out, is not a division
between liberals on one side and totalitarians on the
other. No, on one side of that line are all those men
and women who fancy that the temporal order is the
only order, and that material needs are their only
needs, and that they may do as they like with the
human patrimony.
On the other side of that line are
all those people who recognize an enduring moral
order in the universe, a constant human nature, and
high duties toward the order spiritual and the order
temporal
Conservatism is a way of thinking, it is not a ideological political position.
Read the above. is there anything you disagree with? Read it often, let your lips move, outline points that speak to you and give to others.
Perhaps I am misunderstanding this idea.
But what I see in society is that each side of the political aisle believes that what they are doing is moral and serving humanity in the long run.
Take health care, for example. The Left believes we have a moral duty to provide affordable health care to all people, and that people of wealth should be taxed at higher rates to pay for it. Conservatives, on the other hand, believe that health care is a service that is provided at a level that each person is able to afford.
In the larger picture, conservatives believe a government that provides for the well-being of its citizens discourages good character traits like discipline, savings, and personal investment. While from the liberal view, government programs give the citizen the freedom and possibility of self-improvement and pursuing happiness.
I think my ability to have friendships with liberals, and I have many such friendships, is my belief that they mean well and have good intentions (for the most part), but that their methods ultimately do more harm than good.
Progressives, though are a different story. They are elitist and their only goal is dominance, power, and superiority.