LogFAQs > #909674089

OhhhJa posted...

I'm questioning what you even believe a conservative is then because those all fly in the face of traditional conservatism

I have no idea what you mean by "traditional conservatism", because there are multiple different things that could be referring to.

And just because you are liberal or conservative does not mean you have to follow every single one of the group's beliefs. For instance, I am liberal by my country's standards (which would basically be "pinko commie" by US standards), but I believe that marijuana should remain illegal, despite the fact that legalization is something that enjoys overwhelming support on the left (I do believe it should be decriminalized, but that's a separate issue).

OhhhJa posted...

What do you consider left and right because honestly you just blurred the lines a lot for what you consider left or right or conservative and liberal... you seem to be implying that social concepts are a major factor but then said that most of the hot topics arent left or right issues. So which is it?

Again, depends on what type of left and right you're talking about; "liberal" or "conservative" is not just about where you stand on a couple of hot-button issues, it's significantly deeper than that and I'm kind of amazed you don't already know that.

There's no single litmus tests for liberalism/conservatism, but generally speaking liberals believe that the welfare of the group is more important than the rights of the individual, while conservatives are the other way around. However, there are also several different "axes" on which you can express liberal or conservative tendencies, though there is some overlap between them. To wit:

Political Political conservatives believe that people prosper most with limited government intervention and that the government should do its best not to infringe upon the freedoms of its constituents. They believe in minimal regulations, low taxes, and low levels of government service, dedicated mostly to law enforcement and national security. In line with their focus on limited government power, political conservatives generally favour decentralization and a delegation of more power to local governments; for that reason, in federalist countries, conservatives tend to favour giving more power to regional governments over the federal government, and are distrustful of multi-national or globalist groups.

Economic Economic conservatives believe that maximum prosperity for the greatest number of people derives from allowing the free market to reign. Much like political conservatives, they believe taxes and regulations should be kept low, that competition should be encouraged, and that the government should not compete with the private sector, with the government's main role being to police unfair practices that would discourage competition (monopolies and monopsonies, for instance). They believe that both people and businesses should be forced to succeed or fail on their own merits and are therefore against welfare (of both the personal and corporate varieties), bailouts, and subsidies. In addition, economic conservatives are characterized by aversion to debt and deficits, believing that budgets should remain balanced and debts kept low even if it means cutting services.

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