Posted on 01/25/2011 7:01:23 AM PST by Kaslin
People who don't follow politics tend to believe that conservatives and liberals are just flip sides of the same coin. In other words, conservatives are pro-life, pro-gun, and fiscally conservative while liberals are pro-choice, anti-gun, and want to tax and spend, but otherwise, there are no real differences.
However, if you follow politics closely, you'll find that there's a gulf as wide as the ocean between the average politically active conservative and the average politically active liberal. We don't just have political differences; we view the world through very different eyes.
Of course, I don't want to oversell this because as Americans, conservatives and liberals are more alike than different. There also tend to be differences between people who are heavily politically involved and those who aren't. This column focuses on those of us who are more politically active, as opposed to people who don’t pay much attention to politics.
I'd also add that in every category, you'll find exceptions that prove the rule. Moreover, sometimes you'll find both conservatives and liberals engaging in the same behavior, although one side tends to do it much more than the other. All that being said, after spending a decade blogging, here are just a few of the genuine differences that have become apparent over the years.
1) Conservatives are more patriotic than liberals: Conservatives tend to focus on the positive things about America, while liberals focus on the negative. If the first thoughts that came to your mind when you thought of America were “slavery,” "imperialism," and "unfairly using too much of the world's resources," you probably wouldn't like America very much either. Conservatives, on the other hand, look at the fact that we saved the world in WWI, WWII, and the Cold War, take pride in the fact that we have contributed so much to the planet, and believe America has had a tremendous positive impact on history. The conservative view produces love of country. The other view produces a deep seated dislike of our nation.
2) It's socially acceptable for liberals to lie about conservatives: Whether you're talking about theNew York Times, The Washington Post, or the Daily Kos, it's considered to be perfectly acceptable to lie about conservatives. That's because, as Charles Krauthammer once said, To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.
If you think your opponents are evil, you tend to be okay with using tactics that you would describe as "evil" under other circumstances to fight them. If you're up people you compare to Nazis, it’s easy to tell yourself that lying to beat them isn’t so bad. If you're in a dispute with people who you believe are just too stupid to understand what's going on, you feel compelled to try to explain yourself a little better.
3) Conservatives are results-oriented. Liberals are not: If you understand one thing about liberals, understand this: Liberalism is nothing more than "childlike emotionalism applied to adult issues." That's why they don't care very much about whether the programs they advocate work or not. Proposing programs isn't really about what will help the most people to liberals; it's about making them feel good about themselves. On the other hand, conservatives are results-oriented, which is why they tend to be so down on the government, which is inevitably slower, more expensive, and less effective than the private sector at pretty much everything.
4) Conservatives care about the Constitution. Liberals don't: Conservatives believe that we need to try to interpret the Constitution in the way that the Founders intended it to be read and if we want to change it, then we need to pass a Constitutional Amendment. Liberals believe in a "living Constitution," which is functionally no different than believing in no Constitution at all. If you believe in a "living Constitution," you think it is okay to do whatever you want for political reasons and then come up with a legal justification afterwards, which you'll then call "constitutional law."
5) Liberals are much more misogynistic than conservatives: If you're a prominent conservative woman, you will be deluged with rape threats, death threats, attacks on your family, attacks on your looks, and offers to give you a good screwing as a public service. In other words, what you've seen with Sarah Palin is actually the same thing that happens to most prominent conservative women, but on a larger scale. That's not to say that liberal women don't get some of the same treatment, but it's several orders of magnitude worse for women on the Right.
That's largely because liberals claim the "feminist" mantle and so, if they're feminists, then obviously they can't be "anti-woman" no matter what they actually say, right? Even worse, most of the actual feminist women on the Left tend to either participate in the abuse or, alternately, turn a blind eye to it as long as it's aimed at conservative women.
6) Conservatives are happier people than liberals: Despite all the claims you hear that conservatives are angry, cruel, and mean, conservatives are much happier people than liberals. This is something that has been consistently proven in studies and, let's face it -- anyone who knows a lot of liberals and conservatives will tell you that it's not a surprise. Conservatives love the country they live in, they're more likely to be Christian, and they take responsibility for their own lives instead of griping that the world is terribly unfair. If you want to be a happy person, you're more likely to be a happy conservative than a happy liberal.
7) Conservatives are better Christians than liberals: Certainly there are debates about social conservatism and Christianity on the conservative side of the fence, but Christian conservatism is considered to be a honorable and important part of the Republican base. People are going to hate to hear this, despite the fact it's absolutely true, but Christianity and liberalism have become largely incompatible. That's because there are so many liberals who are implacably hostile to Christianity that liberal Christians are left with one of two unpalatable choices. Either they can water their Christian beliefs down into thin gruel so as to be compatible with liberalism or liberal Christians can choose to be cringing dogs and keep their mouths shut while their beliefs are regularly insulted, demeaned, and attacked by their fellow liberals. Neither option should be acceptable to someone who has a strong Christian faith.
Conservatives are more charitable.
On a particular issue a conservative will ask, “What do you think about that?”
A liberal will ask concerning the same issue, “How does that make you feel?”
Liberals believe that both guns and gun rights advocates are evil.
Conservatives believe a gun is an inaminate tool, and its use or misuse is up to the individual.
Just a start... somebody take it from here?
Bookmarked!
The thing I’ve noticed the most is that libs or Dems simply don’t pay attention as much as conservatives. My three lib sisters are uniformly ignorant about practically every issue you can think of. They represent the thinking or non-thinking of most libs.
Conservatives have bigger families.
One other thing I've noticed is that liberals don't seem to be able to separate their opinions from themselves, so when you criticize a view they hold they take it as a personal attack. A conservative, on the other hand, tends to be willing to revisit an idea they hold, examine it and if it's flawed improve upon it or if it's wrong discard it without viewing it as a personal attack.
Conservatives are better Christians than liberals
This is like saying “males make better men than females do”.
Biblical Christianity and liberal beliefs are in total opposition to each other. Liberalism is inherently based on humanism and/or atheism.
It does my heart good to see the size of the families at my church - mostly homeschooled, “armored up” kids who are less likely to be swayed by the false knowledge of the world.
On the other hand, this is why libs have been encouraged to infest all educational establishments.
You can have the kids, raise them, pay for them, then turn them over to the “Caananite” schools where they are turned into pagans by the “educators” there.
Liberals display racism more than Conservatives
Liberals are WAY more concerned with what makes them appear ‘hip’ or ‘cool’ or ‘smart’.
APPEARANCE. They keep up with current ‘trends’. Those commercials with the guy who says “I’m a PC” and the other ‘cool’ guy who’s “a MAC” describes it from THEIR point of view. They NEED to follow trends.
Which leads me to believe they have low self-esteem and are weaker people deep inside.
Libs already know all the answers. They needn’t be burdened with facts.
Well, that was a start. It particularly struck me when the author talked about how liberals can only accept Christianity if it’s watered down to the point where they are pro-abortion and pro other liberal ideas.
So true.
I have noticed that liberals, despite their repeated calls to the contrary, want to impose their beliefs on others while conservatives do not.
Yes, liberalism is all about feeling good about oneself, about affirming “I’m a good person” (better than you, of course), about living out the pernicious lie of “people are basically good”.
This is why they are so paternalistic.
I’ve heard “60% of the people can’t make decisions for themselves”.
The reason they [want to, need to] believe this is twofold:
1) THEY (the libs) are obviously more competent, by definition, than those “60%”.
2) THEY (the libs) are obviously morally superior to you, because they “CARE” about those people and you don’t.
Libs never had an idea. They merely parrot some jive from one of their idols. And they will defend it violently, because they can’t back it with reason.
Disagree with #2 - I think liberals are evil - those that aren’t shockingly naive are evil.
I have an explanation for that.
Conservatives believe in objective truth and morality, defined by and given by our Creator. There is no need to impose that on anyone, it just IS.
Liberals deny the existance of objective truth and objective right and wrong. When these things are not objective, they are defined by the individual, and inherently conflict.
Therefore, what is “right” and “true” is determined by who obtains and uses the power to impose their “truth” on others. Government therefore becomes GOD to them.
Conservative women are far better looking than liberal women
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