Liberal and Conservative

By Daniel Miessler on September 22nd, 2009: Tagged as Politics

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Conservatives long for the world of Leave it to Beaver, Christmas Story, and Babe Ruth. A world of everyone looking the same, talking the same, eating the same foods, and enjoying the same sports. Everyone loves Jesus, America, Baseball, and tries to work hard so he can be rich and enjoy well-deserved luxury. A core belief of this group is that those who are successful and rich deserve to live luxuriously because they are individually and personally responsible, through the making of good choices, for their own prosperity. And conversely, those who are not successful deserve, to some significant degree, their lower station because they failed to make the correct choices.

Liberals long for the world of Star Trek. This is a world of equality and exotic diversity, where there’s no repulsion to being surrounded by people, foods, or ideas that are different than their own. It’s a world where money has less value, and where art, science, and exploration are placed as the highest of cultural priorities. Those who hold this ideal tend to believe that one’s success or failure, wealth or poverty, depends more on circumstances outside of their control, and thus see the elevation of the underprivileged to be a communal effort that should be willingly funded by those in society who have been fortunate enough to be successful.

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  • http://danielmiessler.com/ Daniel Miessler

    A similar post from a long time ago: http://danielmiessler.com/blog/liberals-vs-cons….

  • http://maxolasersquad.com/ Maxolasersquad

    “Liberals dream of equal rights,
    Conservatives live in a world gone by,
    Socialists preach of a promised land,
    But old uncle son, was an ordinary man.”
    – Uncle Son, The Kinks

  • http://maxolasersquad.com/ Maxolasersquad

    That link is going 404 on me.

  • http://danielmiessler.com/ Daniel Miessler

    Should be better now.

  • Scooter

    Although I have reservations about any generalizations like this, there is one point that stands out to me. The phrase “to be a communal effort that should be willingly funded by those” ought to read “to be a communal effort that is funded by those”. There is no “willingly” about it. Liberals want to force everyone of privilege to pay for the underprivileged. I see this as a bigger difference between the two groups. Conservatives feel it should be an optional, charity-type giving and liberals believe it should be a tax distributed by government.

  • Jon

    ya, i was surprised by the willingly too, since I don't view government wealth redistribution as willing. I agree it should be willing. I also think that luck plays an enormous role in an individuals success. I never realized “liberals” thought they were fixing that part of the universe.

  • CarlM

    When Daniel said that liberals “see the elevation of the underprivileged to be a communal effort that should be willingly funded by those in society who have been fortunate enough to be successful,” I took this as meaning that in Daniel's view liberals think that this is how all consciencious people ought to feel and not that this is how all people ACTUALLY feel.

    —

    As a side note: “Liberals want to force everyone of privilege to pay for the underprivileged.” This is (at best) a vast oversimplification (to pay for the underprivileged? … that's not what this is about). The issue that Daniel has been talking about is “the elevation of the underprivileged” .. something that requires systemic changes to societal structures (education, infrastructure, taxes, etc.). Such systemic changes are most efficiently implemented by a central authority, and they cost money. The questions are: Should government be that central authority? If so, where should they get the money to implement the plans? Since the government gets money from taxes, that second question is equivalent to “How should taxes be structured to pay for the plans and can a need for higher taxes be lessened by reduced spending in other areas?”

    The difference between conservatives and liberals seems to me to be that liberals would answer the first question with “yes” and conservatives would answer with “no.”

  • Jon

    ya, i was surprised by the willingly too, since I don't view government wealth redistribution as willing. I agree it should be willing. I also think that luck plays an enormous role in an individuals success. I never realized “liberals” thought they were fixing that part of the universe.

  • CarlM

    When Daniel said that liberals “see the elevation of the underprivileged to be a communal effort that should be willingly funded by those in society who have been fortunate enough to be successful,” I took this as meaning that in Daniel's view liberals think that this is how all consciencious people ought to feel and not that this is how all people ACTUALLY feel.

    —

    As a side note: “Liberals want to force everyone of privilege to pay for the underprivileged.” This is (at best) a vast oversimplification (to pay for the underprivileged? … that's not what this is about). The issue that Daniel has been talking about is “the elevation of the underprivileged” .. something that requires systemic changes to societal structures (education, infrastructure, taxes, etc.). Such systemic changes are most efficiently implemented by a central authority, and they cost money. The questions are: Should government be that central authority? If so, where should they get the money to implement the plans? Since the government gets money from taxes, that second question is equivalent to “How should taxes be structured to pay for the plans and can a need for higher taxes be lessened by reduced spending in other areas?”

    The difference between conservatives and liberals seems to me to be that liberals would answer the first question with “yes” and conservatives would answer with “no.”

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  • Saintsioux

    The willing part can be explained by government intervention because people cannot be trusted to “willingly” fully participate in “sharing” and “helping” others. But that repeats what CarlM is saying.


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