Pros and Cons of Liberal vs Conservative

[DarkRange55]

What are your favorite and least favorite attributes/positions of both the political left and right?

 

[sserafim]

Conservative/right

Least favorite/cons:
Pro-life
Ban on abortion
Belief that life begins at conception
Decisions and laws influenced by religion/religious beliefs (especially Christianity), "all life is 'sacred'"

 

[ObscureSunshine]

The have always been similar imo.

However they are two sides of the same coin now more than ever.

 

[DarkRange55]

The have always been similar imo.

However they are two sides of the same coin now more than ever.

I like the saying, its like fast food - you go to Taco Bell, one is a crunchy taco and one is a soft taco. Different wrapping but the same ingredients and filling. Like George Carlin said, "the illusion of choice," in a two party dictatorship lol

 

[ObscureSunshine]

I always love a good food analogy.

Yes, exactly this!

I work in social equity.

The way people ignore me when I share that both sides sound the same because they are using the same approach, or are actually the same, is silly to put it gently.

 

[leavingthesoultrap]

From my experience all conservatives do is take away all the social benefits and gibs and don't improve anything.

 

[DarkRange55]

Politics is all about self interest. If you make a lot of money you probably don't want to pay a lot of taxes. If you're poor, you probably want the government to help you out, to help you get more money. Everybody's after their own self interest.

 

[Temporal_Anchorite]

I'm assuming your use of liberal is in the contemporary American sense of the word, yes? As a classical liberal (moderate libertarian), I like to think I have a fairly keen sense for impartially finding faults & strengths among both sides of the aisle, so I'll take a crack at it.

Liberals:

Pros:

• Tend to be much more creative and open-minded
• Dominate the arts and modern academia
• Generally place a greater value on science, empiricism, and technological developments
• Bleeding hearts that seem to care about the socially disenfranchised and marginalized
• Much more understanding of an individual's hardship & life circumstances

Cons:

• Their worldview is largely compartmentalized into a false dichotomy of "oppressed vs oppressor"
• Rabid fixation with identity politics (gender, race, religion, sexual orientation) where perceived oppression & victimhood is a valuable currency. Consequently, they feel morally justified in patronizing people that belong to "dominant social groups" (e.g. white people, men)
• Likely to be more underhanded and surreptitious with their bigotry (e.g. benevolent racism, benevolent sexism)
• Tend to be envious of those that are more successful or powerful than them
• Generally more unprincipled, with their beliefs tethered by unaxiomatic systems despite their strong intuitive moral convictions
• Pie in the sky idealism
• Fervent supporters of political correctness
• Far too trusting of big government to mend every societal ill
• Tend to be more economically illiterate & believe many issues can be solved by just simply throwing more money at it
• Their psychological disposition is generally more neurotic & temperamental
• Very poor understanding of why people may disagree with their politics
• Tend to be much more insulated from dissenting viewpoints
• Seem to be chronically allergic to personal responsibility

Conservatives:

Pros:

• Hardworking & conscientious
• Pragmatic
• Generally more well-versed in history, economics, finance, and business
• Far greater sense of community & charity
• In my personal experience, they're just generally more pleasant and friendlier to be around
• Generally have a better understanding of liberals than the other way around

Cons:

• Far too caught up in their old-timey conventional ways; fear of change
• Claim to be the party of "small government", but will gladly wield the state as a cudgel when it's politically expedient for their personal interests
• Tend to be more superficial, placing far too much importance on matters such as wealth and status
• Can be a bit too harsh and unforgiving when it comes to crime & justice
• Believe that order can only be maintained through rigid authority
• Over-reliance on experience, as opposed to theories and abstractions
• Overly-critical of democracy
• An aversion towards globalization/internationalism in favor of blind nationalism
• Will ardently defend social hierarchies and the status quo, insofar that it benefits them