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This is a very old post that I no longer agree with, but it’s still worth
reading.

One thing that interests me about politics is trying to get to the core of
various belief systems. What does it mean to be liberal, or conservative? I
am not sure exactly, but since I don’t call myself one or the other I don’t
feel quite so bad.

I do think the terms have meaning, however, and I’ve been trying to pin
those meanings down. This post is an attempt to do so. I’m thinking mostly
of the American political landscape here, and I’m not a political scientist
by any means, so bear with me.

The Liberal Way

I think liberals fundamentally have a superior (for humanity as a whole)
view of what life should look like. This means that if the world were to
look and operate in the way that the average intelligent liberal would like
it to, it would be a better place for humans, in the long term, than that
imagined by a similarly equipped conservative.

I think this is because liberals are inclusive by nature. Let’s have all
these types of people. Let’s not judge them. Let them do what they want.
Don’t try and control them. Don’t enforce standards. Let life take its
course. Etc. This is the “feel” that comes from the liberal side, and I
think it’s fundamentally good.

The Problem With The Liberal Way

Like I said, I think this approach is fundamentally positive and ultimately,
as I said earlier, superior. Unfortunately, it doesn’t meld well with
reality. That’s the fundamental weakness with the liberal perspective — they
don’t understand that the world is not the way they want it to be, and they
insist on promoting policies that will cause long-term suffering rather than
addressing difficult core issues head-on.

A perfect example of this is the mixing of various cultures into the
classrooms of America. In my opinion, logic dictates that a standard should
be applied universally, and that those who don’t meet said standard should
fail to progress. I think a completely separate program should be employed
to ensure that everyone meets the standard, and the various systems of
equalizing the playing field should be brought to bear there — not in
the evaluation or even the curriculum design phase.

I am of the opinion that America’s schools are suffering due to a failure to
enforce strict, consistent standards, and that this is in large part due to
the influx of a variety of student populations that are not prepared to meet
those standards. Liberals respond to this by calling the standards unfair,
and subsequently pushing for their relaxation.

I believe this to be a fatal mistake. The standards were already there, and
they are impartial. If we are to succeed as a country we must enforce
rigorous education standards. Failure to do so due to the social and
cultural implications of who will statistically fail to meet those standards
in the short-term is an exercise in stupidity, and it’s one that liberals
partake of on a regular basis.

The Conservative Way

So, liberals have a great view of the world and utterly no clue about how to
go about accomplishing it. It’s worse than that, actually — they
think they know how to go about it but don’t. I offer the welfare
system offered in the 60’s as a model of great intentions and horrible
outcomes.

Conservatives, on the other hand, I think have a less ideal view of what the
world should look like. I think they have a much more elitist view of the
world, with different classes and different worths. In their model world,
those of the right breed, class, group, etc. are the ones who thrive, while
the rest of the world sort of wallows in mediocrity — doomed to serve
(waiters, cleaning staff, etc.) those who deserve a better life. And this is
just the American capitalist conservative I’m speaking of. There are others
such as religious conservatives from various parts of the world that are
even more exclusionary.

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I’ll grant them (American capitalists anyway) that they do tend to believe
that you can “work your way” into the upper class, and that’s noble, but
their willingness to look down upon those who can’t (or simply choose not)
to take this path is their ultimate flaw. In the long term, like hundreds or
thousands of years, I don’t think this model is sustainable.

The Strength of Conservatives

What conservatives tend to have that liberals don’t is a logical approach to
solving their problems. Their reality more naturally coincides with the
actual reality — an important feature when trying to do things in the
real world.

This is largely due to the fact that their world is quite a bit more
tangible — wealth, power, etc. It’s easy to build a logic-based methodology
for attaining these things, whereas it’s not so easy to use the same tools
to solve world hunger or stop powerful people from being greedy.

Conservatives have a simple view of life:

1. Grow up with a structured, pre-packaged belief system.

2. Get a good education.

3. Generate and soundly manage a healthy income.

4. Marry well.

5. Produce quality children.

6. Enjoy the finer things in life.

Liberals don’t have it so easy; they’re often trying to figure out what
makes them happy, which often equates to fighting those ideals that they
find impure (such as the list above).

The Ultimate Combination

The ultimate combination, of course, is to combine the liberal vision of the
world with logical (conservative) approach to attaining it. This is what I
spend my time grappling with philosophically — a way to communicate the need
for difficult, politically turbulent and socially uplifting policies that
will acheive an ultimately liberal (human-beneficial) outcome.

I welcome your thoughts.

Jun 13, 2006

Notes

1. Feb 15, 2019 — I don’t see the world this way anymore, but thought it
   worth it to leave this up as documentation of a journey.