Conservative vs. Liberal viewpoints

[Cyrus]

as that other one, where it was claimed that conservative posters on this page tend to back their arguments with sources and links, while liberals only post opinion. (Yep, that's what was claimed alright. Believe it or not.)

Which was promptly supported by a prominent conservative who posted links that only contained opinion!

...What a fine Saturday matinee this is shaping up to be.

[Darryl_P]

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When a conservative and liberal debate something, the conservative often points to the abstract effect something has on the entire population, while the liberal points to the effect that the policy might have on a specific person.


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Good call!

The underlying reason is how the two camps view the concept of a nation. To righties it's important to have national unity, national identity, national pride, national security etc. because without those your way of life could be in serious danger. Lefties OTOH would like to see the concept of a nation abolished and just make the world one big happy family with everyone smoking weed and holding hands.

And yes I'm biased because while the lefties' view sounds warm, fuzzy, and tingly, there's something called reality which makes those goals foolish for anyone in power to take seriously.

[MMMMMM]

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...What a fine Saturday matinee this is shaping up to be.


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Too true, Cyrus, too true.

[tylerdurden]

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When a conservative and liberal debate something, the conservative often advocates oppression of those outside the US, while the liberal advocates oppression of those inside the US.

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Most of these policies ignore the problems they cause. Raising the min wage increases unemployment. Increasing tariffs makes cars more expensive to every US consumer. Setting ceiling prices creates the slumiest living conditions. Conservatives generally look at these large scale problems caused by liberal economic policies. Unfortunately, the general public doesn't understand the economics so they favor raising min wage, tariffs, and rent control.

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I agree that the general public has their heads up their asses when it comes to anything having to do with economics. Otherwise they'd understand that under Reagan and Bush one unemployment went up, up, then up some more. Under Clinton (I'm definitely no Clinton fan, but hey, facts are facts) unemployment went down, down, then down a little bit more. Welcome Bush 2, unemployment started going up, up, up...You see, for the richest country in the nation, our situation is an absolute scandal. Infant mortality rates I'm pretty sure are the lowest of all industrialized nations. We pay more for healthcare (AND get less) than the majority (if not all) industrialized nations. But it's definitely the liberals fault, right? Maybe if we shaved EVEN ONE [censored] PERCENT of the defense budget or stopped the corporate welfare (which outnumbers welfare for the poor 2-1) we'd be a little better off. But hey, I'm a liberal and it's all our fault. So why listen to me?

What I'm saying, stephan, is that you just demonstrated a "I get all my news from Fox" mentality. Blaming everything on liberals is tantamount to saying "I'm blinded by ideology." I'm a liberal but I'll never go as far as to say, or naively believe, that economic problems are categorically caused by conservatives.

[nicky g]

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Another example: Liberals will say that racial prejudice has devastated a class of people...Conservatives point to specific examples of people who have overcome the plight to suggest that it isn't a problem.

Sorry, I must have misunderstood what your original point was.

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Also just like the way conservatives are always pointing to poverty and lack of social mobility generally, while damn liberals are always harping on about the odd self-made millionaire who shows that everyone can ... oh wait.

[nicky g]

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And yes I'm biased because while the lefties' view sounds warm, fuzzy, and tingly, there's something called reality which makes those goals foolish for anyone in power to take seriously.

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I think you should look up the meaning of the word bias.

Oh yeah, Clinton also raised the minimum wage. Too bad (for conservatives, I guess, good for everyone that benefitted) unemployment *gasp* dropped, rather than increased. I not quite sure if that's a complete refutation of conservative economic thought, but if I believed something and saw a complete contradiction, I'd have to question some things.

[ptmusic]

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Here's something I've noticed many times. Has anyone noticed the same thing or am I just seeing things.

When a conservative and liberal debate something, the conservative often points to the abstract effect something has on the entire population, while the liberal points to the effect that the policy might have on a specific person.

Here's an example:

In debating a minimum wage law, the conservative will say that having a minimum wage will encourage business owners to higher fewer numbers of entry level workers, therefore hurting a great number of people (i.e. it's better to have 100 people working at $5 per hour than 60 people at $7 per hour).

However, a liberal will look at the same issue and often say, what about the people that I KNOW that work for minimum wage. They need to be paid a higher wage to make ends meet. Liberals are often for a minimum wage because they can point to specific people that it will help, while they can never find someone that was not hired, but WOULD HAVE BEEN if not for the minimum wage law.

Minimum wage is just one example, but I've seen this type of thing very often. Anyone else?

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Nice attempt at neutrality.

-ptmusic

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Maybe he is right though, ptmusic. I commented about this same phenomenon before. I said that liberals like to help the "obvious sufferer."

Raising min wage appears to help the obvious low-wager earners. Raising tariffs on car imports helps the obvious struggling US car manufacture. Setting ceiling prices for rent in inner-city apartments is supposed to help the obvious poor tennents.

Most of these policies ignore the problems they cause. Raising the min wage increases unemployment. Increasing tariffs makes cars more expensive to every US consumer. Setting ceiling prices creates the slumiest living conditions. Conservatives generally look at these large scale problems caused by liberal economic policies. Unfortunately, the general public doesn't understand the economics so they favor raising min wage, tariffs, and rent control.

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Text book microeconomics. Literally.

I don't disagree, by the way. But that is just ONE part of the big debate between conservatives and liberals. Framing this issue as the crux of the difference between the two groups is not being neutral.

-ptmusic