Liberals and Conservatives

A common assumption is that liberals and conservatives can’t agree on anything. That is true for some liberals and conservatives, but hopefully not for all. In this piece I am picking up on some ideas of Allen Clifton, and an article on his “Forward Thinking Progressives” web site. We share similar biases, which you can find here. I also think you will find some factual, or reasonable ideas.

We both love discussion and debate and a means for searching for truth and healthy dialogue that leads to growth; something that is less and less true in current debate.

He notes differences between current liberals and conservatives within their own ideologies that I agree with. He sees about 30% of liberals as being ethnocentric, hard liners in contrast to conservatives with 70% being hardliners and 30% moderate conservatives/Republicans. I would go on to say the entire country has moved significantly towards the right in the last 3 decades where Democrats beliefs are similar to moderate Republicans of the past, and the Republicans have gone more towards extreme positions; perhaps like Barry Goldwater but without the ideological political underpinnings and understanding and reasoning of Goldwater.

Here are issues Clifton uses to show differences.

Abortion: liberals see it as a women’s right to choose they do with their bodies. This does not embrace abortion but is about freedom to choose; which you would think would be a conservative point of view with conservative’s emphasis individual freedoms. Conservatives see abortion as murder with life beginning at conception and this view should be forced on all citizens.

Gun Reform: Liberals may affirm the 2^nd amendment but understand it was written in times far different than our own with guns having much less power than today’s guns. Liberals will agree folk have the right to own guns, primarily for the use of hunting, but military style weapons are just inappropriate. Plus liberals believe in background checks to attempt to keep guns out of the hands of those who are dangerous to society. Conservatives are strict constructionists of the 2^nd amendment and use argument that guns don’t kill people, people kill people.

Religion: Liberals believe people should believe what they want, freedom of religion or more currently for some freedom from religion. They believe in the separation of church and state. Liberals note that many the Founding Fathers were Deists, not Christians per se and note the that “under God” part of the Pledge of Allegiance was not added until 1954 when religion played a much more dominant part in the country. Conservatives say this is a Christian nation period.

Homosexuality and Same-sex marriage: Liberals see this as a basic right for the expression of freedom; there is no legal reason why gays should not marry. Conservatives see homosexuality as a sin that threatens traditional marriage and the moral structure of our society. I would note that several conservatives are changing their views in this area.

Welfare Reform: Liberals see the need of safety nets for our society and its citizens. We need programs that help people realize the American Dream. While there are abusers of such systems this can help be fixed by increasing the number of people administering these programs and enforcing the rules. Conservatives see welfare recipients as folk just looking for a handout and are lazy and don’t deserve our money. They see it as socialism. We all have the same opportunities so just get off your butt and get a job.

Role of Government: Liberals do not see government as a panacea for all problems but it is there to protect people. Government is not perfect but we need services that help the common good: public roads, public schools, waste disposal, clean water, traffic signals, law enforcement, emergency services, military, higher education, etc. Conservatives see government as basically evil incapable of doing things right or efficiently. However, they have exceptions when the wish to push their will and ideas on others such as national religion, abortion, voter ID etc.

Conservatives it appears wish to push their values on all others while liberal embrace our differences.

My bias is that conservatives who traditionally embrace individualism find themselves demanding that all believe as they do; to me this is inconsistent. And from a religious standpoint, while they affirm Christianity as the definitive religion of the country they do not seem to embrace the Christian teachings of caring for our brothers as sisters ignoring the golden rule. Traditional the Judeo-Christian values are that of hospitality and love of neighbor and care for those of a common community and “aliens” alike.

I long for the days when there were more moderates in each party and fought each other but worked for the common good but realized they were public servants.