Last
night, as my wife and I were watching the news, she asked me what a
Liberal or Conservative actually is. As I made a gallant but futile
attempt at defining them for her, I realised that I'm just like
Potter Stewart (supreme court judge; 1958 to 1981) who, when referring
to pornography, said "I
shall not today attempt further to define (the
kinds of material)
I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and
perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it
when I see it...1”
The
February 13th
issue of Time®
Magazine has an article titled “WHAT IS A CONSERVATIVE?”. 3 pages
of commentaries by 9 different authors and they all seemed to
articulate what a Conservative ISN'T,
with absolutely no consensus on what one IS!
I will assume that they would be similarly as inconsistent if they
tried defining a Liberal.
On that note, and with one of
the most important elections of the last 100 years coming up in just 9
months, I decided to try my hand at coming up with a solid definition
for each term.
If you have been reading this
blog for any length of time, you know where I stand on most social,
economic and political issues; I have always considered myself to be
a staunch right-wing Conservative and try to espouse those values and
ideals. However, like Justice Potter, I really don't have a solid
definition. I just know them when I see them.
So I did a bunch of research
and here I bring to you my shot at putting forth true, accurate
definitions for the terms Liberal and Conservative.
Answers.com has this to
say:
Liberals
believe that individuals are collectively responsible for the welfare
of the entire community. Thus more programs to help the entire
community means that higher taxes and bigger government is needed to
oversee the programs.
- Pro-choice
- Equality
- Feminism
- Affirmative Action
- Gun Regulation
- Social Help
- Insurance that covers all
- Support welfare program
- Separation of church and state-No religion in schools
- Against the death penalty
- Regulated Market
Ask.com
says:
Liberals
don't love to pay taxes, but they stress that a well-functioning
government has a responsibility to maintain law and order, and that
doing this is costly. Liberals stress that taxes are necessary for
providing police and courts, ensuring safe transportation by building
safe roads, promoting education by providing public schools, and
protecting society in general by providing health care to those who
need it.
In an article by Robert
S. Sargent, Jr titled “Understanding
the Liberal agenda”2,
I believe I found the best non-Conservative-biased definition. Even
though he is an obvious conservative, he seems to attempt to offer a
truthful, straight-forward view. It the article he says:
“...what
is the underlying principle that drives the Liberal (not Democratic)
agenda? I'm convinced it's egalitarianism. It is a constant drive
toward equality.”
And:
“Egalitarianism
means everybody is equal, and that must be instituted from a central
source: the Federal Government.”
And
from
StudentNewsDaily3
we get what is probably the most definitive, in-depth and
side-by-side comparison, which begins (for the Liberal side):
“Liberals
– believe in government action to achieve equal opportunity and
equality for all. It is the duty of the government to alleviate
social ills and to protect civil liberties and individual and human
rights. Believe the role of the government should be to
guarantee that no one is in need. Liberal policies generally emphasise the need for the government to solve problems.
Now onward to:
Conservative:
/kənˈsərvətiv/
Adjective: Holding
to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or
innovation, typically in politics or religion.
For the Conservatives,
Answers.com says:
Conservatives
believe that individuals are responsible for themselves, and that the
community benefits from the efforts of the individuals acting in
their interests. Thus less governmental programs, less taxes, and
less government is the goal.
- Pro-life
- Equality takes a back seat
- Patriarchal
- Believe there is reverse racism in affirmative action
- No Gun Regulation
- No social help
- No separation of church and state
- Religion in public schools
- Support the death penalty
- Free Market
And
we get this from Ask.com.
Conservatives
generally value individual accomplishment and resent too much
government intervention. They do not believe that it is the job of
the government to solve the problems of society by imposing intrusive
or costly policies, such as affirmative action or mandatory health
care programs.
The
Conservative side of the StudentDailyNews.com3
comparison
says:
“CONSERVATIVES
– believe in personal responsibility, limited government, free
markets, individual liberty, traditional American values and a strong
national defence. Believe the role of government should be to
provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals.
Conservative policies generally emphasise empowerment of the
individual to solve problems.”
While
assisting me in the research for this posting, my son said: “For
what it's worth, here is why I call myself an independent.”
It
has been said many times that; if you want to keep peace in a crowd,
never discuss politics or religion. I hope this discussion doesn't
start any brawls. I just wanted to bring a little clarification to
what seem to be some very muddy waters. I hope I succeeded. And...I
hope that, the next time someone tells you that they are a Liberal or
Conservative, you know exactly what they are claiming to believe. Or
at least what somebody else thinks they claim to believe. Or what the
other side wants to believe they believe. Or...Ahh! To hell with it.
For better or worse; there it is.
One
more thing. I'll
be the first to admit that our laws,
our government and even our country are not perfect. Sometimes our
laws don't work quite like we think...or wish they would (see
my posting: 01 June 2011-THE HIJACKING OF THE WHITE-HOUSE - WHO REALLY
CHOOSES OUR PRESIDENT?)
But the
ballot box is the backbone – the very lifeblood of our republic.
I'm not trying to get anybody to vote or believe one way or another.
Whether you consider yourself a Liberal, Conservative or Progressive;
whether you think of yourself as a Socialist or a Constitutionalist;
please vote. Do your part to make us better. And to keep us the best
country in the world. It only takes a few minutes every other year.
Please! Just vote.
Besides
if you don't vote, you have no room to complain if things don't end
up the way you wanted.
At least, that's my opinion.
What's yours?
PS:
for a little more incentive to get out the vote, please read my
posting from 04
November 2011 titled
“A SOLUTION TO THE
PROBLEM“
Citations
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