View Single Post
Old 07-03-2003, 08:13 AM   #20 (permalink)
geep
Insane
 
Location: Imprisoned in Ecotopia
Quote:
Originally posted by lurkette
Generally speaking, liberals tend to want a "nurturing family" model of government - one in which Mom & Dad (the government) are there to provide guidance, meet basic needs, and catch you if you fall, but you're basically free to go explore and do whatever you want. This entails a minimum of interference in your personal behavior and only a moderate amount of responsibilty.

Conservatives tend to want a more "traditional authoritative family" model of government - one in which Dad's job is to raise you till you're 18, teach you how to take care of yourself, and then interfere as little as possible. This necessarily requires a certain amount of respect for authority, a strong controlling hand in some areas, somewhat limited freedom if your actions jeopardize the family, and a high amount of responsibility.
Realistically, after reading this thread the distinction between liberals and conservatives becomes quite blurred. While I somewhat agree with the above idea or explaination, I feel it's ironic that the family, which suffers under the liberal model, is used in such a positive parallel.

Quote:
Originally posted by Ratso
Being a liberal means you generally believe in reform. You like to move forward, or challenge the status quo. Being a liberal in general means you're more open to change, and see the benefits and the advantages of a changing society. It can also mean that you're more of a free-thinker, etc.. but that's really stretching the boundaries of the word in a political sense.

Being a conservative means you believe in keeping things the way they are. Don't fix what isn't broken. A belief in the idea that we're better off believing in the actions we've taken as a society in the past, and there's no sense in taking risks. "Stay the course."
According to this, when a liberal idea becomes the "status quo", then a conservative who decides to change the "status quo" would, by the above definition, become a liberal.

IMO the dirty little secret is the conservative-liberal debate is like the north-south poles of a magnet. They are the same-just opposite.
geep is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360