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Values: Conservative vs. Liberal
Let's find out what our viewers define as conservative values and liberal values. I'm betting there's not as wide of a gap as some of us think.
But first, we must define what the values are. Can it be boiled down to a few categories? Or is the devil in the details? Religious? Family? Country? Personal? Life? EDIT: Here's the text and a link to where it's from for some points. http://www.classroomhelp.com/lessons...efinition.html Return to the Core Democratic Home Page. Core Democratic Values This section is divided into two parts the Fundamental Beliefs (Often referred to as the Core Democratic Values of Elementary Students.) and the Constitutional Principals. Fundamental Beliefs Life: A person's right to life can't be violated except if your life or the lives of others is threatened. Liberty: This includes personal freedom, political freedom, and economic freedom. This is the freedom for people to gather in groups. They have their own beliefs, ideas and opinions. People also have the right to express their opinions in public.
Common Good: Working together for the welfare of the community or the benefit of all. Justice: All people should be treated fairly in both the benefits and the obligations of society. No individual or group should be favored over another person or group. Equality: Everyone has the right to Political, Legal, Social and Economic Equality. Everyone has the right to the same treatment regardless of race, sex, religion, heritage, or economic status. Diversity: The differences in culture, dress, language, heritage and religion are not just tolerated, but celebrated as a strength. Truth: They should expect and demand that the government not lie to them and the government should disclose information to the people. The government and its people should not lie. Popular Sovereignty: The power of the government comes from the people. The people are the ultimate authority over the government. Patriotism: The people or citizens show a love and devotion for their country and the values. They can show this by words or by actions. Constitutional Principles Rule of Law: Both the people and the government must obey all laws. Separation of Powers: The executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government should be separate institutions so no one branch has all of the power. Representative Government: People have the right to elect others to represent them in the government. Checks and Balances: The powers of the three branches of government, executive, legislative and judicial, should be balanced. No one branch should be dominate. Each branch should have powers to check the actions of the other branches. Individual Rights: Each individual has the fundamental right to life, liberty, economic freedom and the pursuit of happiness. These rights are outlined in the Bill of Rights and the government should protect these rights and not place undo restrictions upon them. Freedom of Religion: The right to practice any or no religion without persecution by the government. Federalism: The states and the federal government share power as outlined by the Constitution. Civilian Control of the Military: The people control the military to preserve democracy. This page was last modified on Sunday, January 25, 2004 |
This is kind of why I don't call myself a conservative even though the majority of my views ARE conservative. I believe in families, accountability, limited government, etc. But I'm also an agnostic and a staunch believer in science. I believe that the abortion debate is filled with people on both sides who are full of it (pro-life and pro-choice are completely misleading descriptors).
I could go on but my point is that in general it should be fairly difficult to fit everyone neatly into one of two broad political views. But I will make a generalization: conservatives tend to buy more completely into the entire package, while liberalism is saddled with more of the single-issue crowd, and is more likely to have divergent views within the group. For example, PETA is clearly a liberal organization as is the Meatpacking Union. Or how about Greenpeace and the UAW? Or how about the gay/lesbian community and the African-American demographic, which is decidely anti-gay? The American Democratic Party consists of very strange bedfellows. This is why I sometimes muse that the Republican Party is about principles (although I don't agree with all of them) and the Democratic Party is about not having principles. |
I see the first thing to clear up is does conservative mean Republican, and liberal mean Democrat. I don't think so, but you almost always here the two pairs together, as conservative Republicans this, and liberal Democrats that. I feel that serves no purpose but to polarize the public into party lines regardless of the issue at hand.
Interesting. You're saying, in general, that if one felt strongly enough that homosexuality was a sin, they would more likely buy the whole package and be a Republican. Even if, as was brought out last week, a Republican county in CA uses nearly twice the per capita state funds than more Democratic counties. These people seem to be liberal Republicans, but hold those principals. Buddahaid |
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I also believe that those three terms can not be absolute but are alway relative. A person can't be "a conservative", but they can be more conservative than "someone else". But then people have the right to call themselves what ever makes them feel comfortable. :D What I hate is when people try to nullify someone's opinion by labeling them. "Oh well he is just a Conservative, that's why he thinks like that" or "What else can you expect from a Liberal" Instead of truly trying to understand their opinion. Anytime we apply labels we are hindering communication and understanding between people of different opinions. |
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Anyone who responds to the substance of this post is feeding the monster.
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Buddahaid |
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Buddahaid |
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The reasoning for my finding the democrats to be more of a divergent group is that the party represents such a diversity of interests, but many of which are at odds with other interests the party represents. Conservatism doesn't have that same divergence. By the way, I don't think there is anything wrong with that - I just think it is what it is. |
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And your words seem prophetic now as the only one feeding the monster seems to be you. If you can't argue a position with words, then leave it to others, or correct my misunderstanding this picture post. Buddahaid |
It has nothing to do with being gay. It has everything to do with being silly. That is why this topic is so toxic. You started with a benign number of topics, and proceeded to entered a number of liberal/progressive talking points.
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OK :haha:. Then please bring up conservative non-progressive talking points. If the topic is silly why is so much energy wasted, by so many people, arguing about it in political races, media outlets, rallies, churches, etc. I'm hoping to show people share more ground than not by asking for viewpoints from both camps. Or, do you feel it's silly to try as people would rather fight over differences anyway. Just seems a lot of topics get derailed over just these types of issues and maybe they could be argued here instead.
Buddahaid Edited after rereading the previous post. |
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