Feb 262010
Is the difference just military? Conservatives seem very individualistic and materialistic and don’t seem to have much respect for customs, tradition or institutions. They also seem to talk about about ‘freedom’.
Is the difference just military? Conservatives seem very individualistic and materialistic and don’t seem to have much respect for customs, tradition or institutions. They also seem to talk about about ‘freedom’.
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Conservatives look back at what they had
Liberals look forward to what is possible
The Gipper summarized it ever so eloquently in an interview with Reason Magazine in 1975:
REASON: Governor Reagan, you have been quoted in the press as saying that you’re doing a lot of speaking now on behalf of the philosophy of conservatism and libertarianism [classic liberalism]. Is there a difference between the two?
REAGAN: If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals–if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.
Now, I can’t say that I will agree with all the things that the present group who call themselves Libertarians in the sense of a party say, because I think that like in any political movement there are shades, and there are libertarians who are almost over at the point of wanting no government at all or anarchy. I believe there are legitimate government functions. There is a legitimate need in an orderly society for some government to maintain freedom or we will have tyranny by individuals. The strongest man on the block will run the neighborhood. We have government to insure that we don’t each one of us have to carry a club to defend ourselves. But again, I stand on my statement that I think that libertarianism and conservatism are travelling the same path.
Classical Liberals beleive that the only duty of state is to ensure that individual rights are enforced by they state no more and no less. These are the rights of property, speech freedom and the pursuit of happiness. So long as this does not cross others paths in the process.
Neoconservatives believe that the state should not intervene in the community and that the community and private property should work together to make a better society. They believe in contrast to libertarians that the community should exert social authority to make sure that people pursue happiness and express speech in appropriate ways. So this might mean a abhorrence for pornography, gay marriage or sex out of wedlock. These sort of neoconservatives have been around a long time but gained influence in the 1980s. They spread economic liberalisation around the world and ironically this spread neoliberalism rather than neoconservatism. Neoliberalism is what blair and clinton followed. But all politicians in this era have simply had to adopt some neocon rhetoric. They resulting crime and social decay from liberal reforms left police underresourced for fighting working class community decay. The end result was a typical neocon clampdown where these people were to be guided by the state cane on how to live. So such things as ASBOs were introduced.
The deviated slightly provide certain levels of social protection but otherwise they used much the same philosophy of neoclassical economist for the economy and the same economic methods as the neocons before them.
Blair lasted into an era of global neoimperialism. This was a belief embraced by the neocons in america post 9/11 that democracy and capitalism had to be spread worldwide to boost western security. This result in the war on terror and mideastern conflicts. It also resulted in less security at home and a fear of muslims. The terrorist attackes in turn saw people embrace the nanny state.
The “Reagan” quote from cwhiatt says it pretty well.
But let me add that “classical” Liberals, such as Thomas Jefferson, et al, were more like Libertarians. They believed in limited government and letting the people do as they wanted, with minimal government interference. This is FAR from what “Liberal” means today. Today, it is more like Socialism or Communism, leading all to the public teet, creating dependency on Government for political gain.
Conservatives of today, are Liberals from the past, The following analogy holds as a comparison.
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day(Liberal Democrat)
Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime (Conservative or classic Liberal)
Conservatives believe in personal liberty, the Constitution and keeping Government small and out of people’s lives.
Some modern day Liberals border on Fascism, as to how much they want to invade people’s lives, tell them what to think, how to act, etc. Political correctness run wild
The key difference between liberalism and conservatism as I see it, is that liberals believe that the role of the government should be to provide for the people. While conservatives belive that the role of government should be to provide citizens with the freedom to take care of themselves.
The terms are loosely thrown around that it really is up to the individuals view.
Hannity would call a centrist a liberal and Pelosi would call the same person a conservative
I do not know to tell you the truth, Conservatives are freeloaders and Liberals are piss takers.
In the esteemed words of our president, “Uhh, what?”