Posted on 01/25/2011 7:01:23 AM PST by Kaslin
People who don't follow politics tend to believe that conservatives and liberals are just flip sides of the same coin. In other words, conservatives are pro-life, pro-gun, and fiscally conservative while liberals are pro-choice, anti-gun, and want to tax and spend, but otherwise, there are no real differences.
However, if you follow politics closely, you'll find that there's a gulf as wide as the ocean between the average politically active conservative and the average politically active liberal. We don't just have political differences; we view the world through very different eyes.
Of course, I don't want to oversell this because as Americans, conservatives and liberals are more alike than different. There also tend to be differences between people who are heavily politically involved and those who aren't. This column focuses on those of us who are more politically active, as opposed to people who don’t pay much attention to politics.
I'd also add that in every category, you'll find exceptions that prove the rule. Moreover, sometimes you'll find both conservatives and liberals engaging in the same behavior, although one side tends to do it much more than the other. All that being said, after spending a decade blogging, here are just a few of the genuine differences that have become apparent over the years.
1) Conservatives are more patriotic than liberals: Conservatives tend to focus on the positive things about America, while liberals focus on the negative. If the first thoughts that came to your mind when you thought of America were “slavery,” "imperialism," and "unfairly using too much of the world's resources," you probably wouldn't like America very much either. Conservatives, on the other hand, look at the fact that we saved the world in WWI, WWII, and the Cold War, take pride in the fact that we have contributed so much to the planet, and believe America has had a tremendous positive impact on history. The conservative view produces love of country. The other view produces a deep seated dislike of our nation.
2) It's socially acceptable for liberals to lie about conservatives: Whether you're talking about theNew York Times, The Washington Post, or the Daily Kos, it's considered to be perfectly acceptable to lie about conservatives. That's because, as Charles Krauthammer once said, To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.
If you think your opponents are evil, you tend to be okay with using tactics that you would describe as "evil" under other circumstances to fight them. If you're up people you compare to Nazis, it’s easy to tell yourself that lying to beat them isn’t so bad. If you're in a dispute with people who you believe are just too stupid to understand what's going on, you feel compelled to try to explain yourself a little better.
3) Conservatives are results-oriented. Liberals are not: If you understand one thing about liberals, understand this: Liberalism is nothing more than "childlike emotionalism applied to adult issues." That's why they don't care very much about whether the programs they advocate work or not. Proposing programs isn't really about what will help the most people to liberals; it's about making them feel good about themselves. On the other hand, conservatives are results-oriented, which is why they tend to be so down on the government, which is inevitably slower, more expensive, and less effective than the private sector at pretty much everything.
4) Conservatives care about the Constitution. Liberals don't: Conservatives believe that we need to try to interpret the Constitution in the way that the Founders intended it to be read and if we want to change it, then we need to pass a Constitutional Amendment. Liberals believe in a "living Constitution," which is functionally no different than believing in no Constitution at all. If you believe in a "living Constitution," you think it is okay to do whatever you want for political reasons and then come up with a legal justification afterwards, which you'll then call "constitutional law."
5) Liberals are much more misogynistic than conservatives: If you're a prominent conservative woman, you will be deluged with rape threats, death threats, attacks on your family, attacks on your looks, and offers to give you a good screwing as a public service. In other words, what you've seen with Sarah Palin is actually the same thing that happens to most prominent conservative women, but on a larger scale. That's not to say that liberal women don't get some of the same treatment, but it's several orders of magnitude worse for women on the Right.
That's largely because liberals claim the "feminist" mantle and so, if they're feminists, then obviously they can't be "anti-woman" no matter what they actually say, right? Even worse, most of the actual feminist women on the Left tend to either participate in the abuse or, alternately, turn a blind eye to it as long as it's aimed at conservative women.
6) Conservatives are happier people than liberals: Despite all the claims you hear that conservatives are angry, cruel, and mean, conservatives are much happier people than liberals. This is something that has been consistently proven in studies and, let's face it -- anyone who knows a lot of liberals and conservatives will tell you that it's not a surprise. Conservatives love the country they live in, they're more likely to be Christian, and they take responsibility for their own lives instead of griping that the world is terribly unfair. If you want to be a happy person, you're more likely to be a happy conservative than a happy liberal.
7) Conservatives are better Christians than liberals: Certainly there are debates about social conservatism and Christianity on the conservative side of the fence, but Christian conservatism is considered to be a honorable and important part of the Republican base. People are going to hate to hear this, despite the fact it's absolutely true, but Christianity and liberalism have become largely incompatible. That's because there are so many liberals who are implacably hostile to Christianity that liberal Christians are left with one of two unpalatable choices. Either they can water their Christian beliefs down into thin gruel so as to be compatible with liberalism or liberal Christians can choose to be cringing dogs and keep their mouths shut while their beliefs are regularly insulted, demeaned, and attacked by their fellow liberals. Neither option should be acceptable to someone who has a strong Christian faith.
Liberals are “one issue” oriented.
If they are pro-abortion they would support ANY candidate who will allow them to have abortions. Same with ‘gay’ rights.
You could be a DECLARED nazi socialist muslim terrorist and they would still support you if you were pro-gay.
And they think the government can solve any problem with their pet isssue.
That would depend on the type of conservative. Social conservatives are notorious for wanting to impose beliefs. Remember the old saying "Democrats want government out of your bedroom and into your wallet, Republicans want government out of your wallet and into your bedroom."
In a sense, everything is political. By that, I mean that any given individual's entire weltanschauung is reflected in their politics, their religious beliefs, and in fact, virtually every interaction they have with their fellow human beings.
The primary differences between contemporary American conservatives and liberals can largely be found in the Declaration of Independence. Conservatives call upon "the laws of nature and nature's God," and "unalienable rights." Conservatives identify absolute baselines in truth and morality and assess the world around them in how closely things approach, or deviate from those ideals. Liberals live in a realm of moral relativism and situational ethics. Liberals live in a paradoxical cloud in which they accept as their only absolute rule the premise that "there are no absolutes." Both views apply not only to their respective view of politics but virtually every other aspect of their lives as well...economics, diversions and hobbies, sexual relationships, work, charity, etc.
When it comes to the individual's relationship to the state, a conservative who believes in the immortality of the soul, views one's citizenship and membership of the state as a transient identity, albeit it one with duties and responsibilities. The soul will outlast the state, and indeed, many governments do not outlive the average human lifetime. A conservative views the state (consistent with the Declaration of Independence) as something instituted to serve the individual and protect his unalienable rights.
A hard left, liberal secularist sees the individual as subordinate to the state, and views the state as an entity to be servedby the individual.
Virtually every difference between "conservatives" and "liberals" derives from these dichotomies.
BUT WHAT DOES HOLLYWOOD WANT YOU TO THINK!
Take violence, for example. I think the template for violence was establish a long time ago with Hollywood. The movie Easy Rider (1968) shows the hippies are peaceful and the rednecks are violent. From that it’s easy to make the connections that hippies = peaceful = Democrats and rednecks = violent = Republicans. That is what Hollywood has given us ever since the 60s: the conceptual building blocks that form our views. We grew up with this in the air since kids.
In the movie Pleasantville (90s) people go back in time to remake the 50s into the morally lax, peaceful, colorful 60s. The mayor is a holdout and is violent Republican. And this brings up another point: if the Republicans aren’t rednecks they are a cabal of evil business men who use violence for profit (Sum of all Fears, Shooter, etc.). Again, to reiterate the template: hippie = peaceful, non materialistic, cool = Democrats; Rednecks and businessmen = violent, materialistic, uncool (look at Mr. Lebowsky from the Big Lebowsky) = Republicans. As well, Democrats are young and say “yes,” Republicans are old and say “no.” This is what Hollywood wants you to think and, more importantly, wants you to “feel” is true.
No, it just wasn't done right last time. The current lot of course have a plan that will work, unlike the previous hundred of attempts. Communism is a good example.
Liberals smell worse than Conservatives, and they are uglier too. :)
So where does a conservative secular atheist fit into this paradigm?
I guess “results” is a different concept from “outcomes”.
One of the noticeable differences in policy considerations and behaviors between the two groups is how they treat disparity of outcome.
Conservatives don’t see any problem with disparities of outcome when everyone “playing” abides by the rules agreed on, or at least known, at the start.
Liberals hate the idea of fixed rules, because they view themselves as intellectually and morally capable enough to dictate “fair” outcomes, rules be damned.
You just gave me a Weird Al flashback, “Those weird talk shows about transsexual Nazi Eskimos...”
But some of those HIPPY girls from the 60’s were KNOCKOUTS!
OOhh here’s a big one...
If you are a conservative you try to educate those who disagree with you, and hope and pray you can convert them to your way of thinking.
If you are a Liberal you want to kill them.
That's for that person to decide. I would only say that the Declaration of Independence is this nation's birth certificate." It identifies our entire reason for being, our purpose, our identity. If you don't believe in the "laws of nature or nature's God," you have to resolve and reconcile the source of this nation's very right to exist. Obviously you would be at odds with our founders who found their (and by extension, "our") right to exist in some absolute source that existed on a level higher than any man or concensus of men.
That person would further have to resolve that somehow we are endowed with certain unalienable rights, and yet, there is no party that does the "endowing."
Sum of All Fears was the worst. The original book was a coherent story, with the bad guys being Palestinian terrorists. The movie clumsily replaced them with a rich dude.
Yes on the former, no on the latter.
Then I think you would be hard pressed to define yourself as a "secular atheist".
If you believe in natural law, you accept at least some premise of moral absolutism that exists on a plane higher than humanity and the perceivable world. In fact, you apparently subscribe to a set of perfect-form ideals that likely will never be fully realized on this plane of existence, and I suspect that at least a few of our founders held the very same or similar beliefs, although would probably not have identified themselves as "secular atheists."
In any case, for me personally, it seems only rational that such immutable laws could only proceed from a "law giver," but others may come to other conclusions that they find more satisfactory.
The difference between liberals and conservatives mirrors the difference between urban dwellers and rural folks.
Urban dwellers are dependent on services brought to them. Rural folks take care of themselves.
Urban dwellers are far less in touch with the natural cycles of life/death, and nature in general. Rural folks know it all too well.
Urban dwellers have too much time on their hands. Rural folks are busy using their hands.
Urban dwellers look down on rural folks. Rural folks pity urban dwellers.
Urban dwellers don’t bother looking up at the stars because they have all the light they need. Rural dwellers look up and see the hand of God.
Urban dwellers preach about saving the environment. Rural folks know that to be a true environmentalist, live where the environment will kill you. You’ll learn to be a true environmentalist real fast.
There are those urban dwellers who have the rural soul, but many have forgotten that it is the individual, not the state that created that urban environment they live in.
I don't know whether it's because Liberals are less empathetic than Conservatives, merely less tactful, or actively antagonistic - or maybe (((shudder))) I happen to give off a strong Liberal vibe to strangers, but I've never had anyone (i.e., someone who didn't already know my political leanings) blithely complain to me about the "current administration" except when Republicans were in office.
In other words: Liberals are much more daring in simply assuming that they already know your political persuasion and/or that you'll be in agreement with them when they bad-mouth Republican politicians and/or administrations, while Conservatives will not be so arrogant as to assume in advance that they know your stance.
Anyone else ever encounter this phenomenon?
Regards,
As Ann Coulter opined, liberals not only think that it's okay to lie, but that lying (about everything) is a sort of sporting event with them.
I think that (as a group) the tacit acceptance and approval of lies as a cornerstone one's political belief system is a form of hysteria... leftists lie, then believe their own falsehoods as a way of feeling like a member of the gang.
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“Social conservatives are notorious for wanting to impose beliefs.”
So, according to you, when an economics-only conservative or a libertarian insists on making illegal drugs legal...they are not attempting to “impose their beliefs”?
Silliness.
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