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Is it better to be liberal or conservative?

Are you better off being liberal or conservative?

  • Total voters
    71
Tanngrisnir said:
The founding fathers were hardly what we understand libertarian to be now.

People could be owned as property. Rights currently enjoyed by, for example, women, didn't exist.

Etc....
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What you are describing is not the ideology of the Founders. It is one of those silly talking points used to denigrate the Founders by those who call themselves liberals but have little sense or appreciation for what liberty is.
 
DifferentDrummr said:
The context here is on a personal level.

In other words, is it better for your own overall well-being if you identify as liberal, or if you identify as conservative? And why?

What do you think?
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Are you asking politically wise or issue wise?

If its politically then neither side is good. If its issue wise then it depends on the issue.
 
AlbqOwl said:
What you are describing is not the ideology of the Founders. It is one of those silly talking points used to denigrate the Founders by those who call themselves liberals but have little sense or appreciation for what liberty is.
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The founders of the DOI and the constituional convention had no authority to end slavery, however when authority to end slavery could be exercised ,it was used(northwest ordanance) .rights of women have been supressed long after the founders even into the modern age
 
Actually, it is better to think for yourself.
 
AlbqOwl said:
What you are describing is not the ideology of the Founders. It is one of those silly talking points used to denigrate the Founders by those who call themselves liberals but have little sense or appreciation for what liberty is.
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Wow....so the FF's in owning slaves....were not operating on their beliefs, their own ideology? What happened? Were they forced into said ownership?
 
DifferentDrummr said:
The context here is on a personal level.

In other words, is it better for your own overall well-being if you identify as liberal, or if you identify as conservative? And why?

What do you think?
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it depends on the definition. True liberalism was the search for more freedom and more independence. not reliance or dependence on government. The current "liberal" philosophy is "liberal" on some issues but shows evidence of reactionary parasitic statism in others. The Right is "liberal" on some issues concerning personal freedom, but reactionary and stilted traditionalist on others.
 
Phys251 said:
As an ex-conservative, I know beyond any reasonable doubt that I am freer and better informed on this side of the aisle.
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As an ex-lefty (liberal is conservative in Australia, so I tend to distinguish between the two in American forums), I know beyond reasonable doubt that I am freer and better informed on this side of the aisle. The more informed I became, the faster I ran to the right!
 
It really depends on how you view the question.

Do I view conservative values to be better than Liberal? As someone that is fiscally conservative and somewhat liberal on social issues it depends on the topic.

If by standing in society then the answer is most definitely liberal, especially on college campuses and Hollywood where to have any degree of success you typically have to hide your conservative viewpoints for fear of retribution in today's hyper partisan society.
 
Master PO said:
The founders of the DOI and the constituional convention had no authority to end slavery, however when authority to end slavery could be exercised ,it was used(northwest ordanance) .rights of women have been supressed long after the founders even into the modern age
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The Founders pretty much to a man opposed slavery on principle and would have ended it had they had the power to do so. Even those like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The first U.S. Congress did see to it that the slave trade ended; i.e. no new slaves could be brought from other countries. Also, states carved out of territories controlled by the U.S. were to be non slave states.

As for women's rights, we all are a product of and affected by the culture we are born into. The U.S. Constitution did not prohibit women's rights in any way but started us off in the culture we had at that time. As civilization has progressed, so have women's rights increased. And while for the most part that has been a good thing, there are also a few downsides to it too.

Libertarianism as the Founder's practiced it allowed people to be who and what they chose to be and the government had no say in that whatsoever. It was true liberalism--that which promoted maximum liberty while protecting rights.
 
I think its a rather ridiculous question really. Your ideology will generally match your personality type. You could probably do a decent job of predicting whether one is conservative or liberal based on their Myers Briggs.

For example, an ISTJ would typically be pretty conservative. Particularly on social issues. So would it be better for them to be liberal and thus try to adhere to an ideology that doesn't really match their personality type?
 
LadyMoonlight said:
As an ex-lefty (liberal is conservative in Australia, so I tend to distinguish between the two in American forums), I know beyond reasonable doubt that I am freer and better informed on this side of the aisle. The more informed I became, the faster I ran to the right!
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What made you change?
 
Brewdog said:
Beta males don't get laid at all. Keep dreaming, sissy.
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He might just have to sic his wife's boyfriend on you, peasant.
 
Koke said:
He might just have to sic his wife's boyfriend on you, peasant.
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You mean his husband, I think.

And yes, I'm pretty scared.
 
DifferentDrummr said:
The context here is on a personal level.

In other words, is it better for your own overall well-being if you identify as liberal, or if you identify as conservative? And why?

What do you think?
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Im an independant but I definitely lean right and used to claim to be right.

My vote is for "Neither is better for you personally."

and that's true. The best thing a person can be is an honest human being and not a sheep. Right/left identifiers don't matter much IF you are honest and yourself. The majority of people aren't "stereotypically" what they claim to be anyway because they are NORMAL. And its the abnormal that have a problem with that and society gives in to theos loons too much!.
 
In answer to the poll, I voted "Other". Why? Mainly because I believe that every rational human being in the country would be better off studying each individual issue to make a decision rather than hunting up a dog-eared copy of either the GOP or DNC platforms to learn what they are supposed to think about said issue.
 
Gaugingcatenate said:
Having been both, being conservative is the much better approach. When young it was "cool" to be that clueless about the world, to be for all the hip causes, no matter how vapid. Then I started debating, reading/researching again, saw the gaping holes in my, our, liberal arguments, the very shallow nature of the "good intentions". Pixie dust does not cover all faults.

At the same time, classical liberals were, and are, where the truth is at... so all liberals aren't wrong, just the modern ones.
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Conservatism itself is an academic discipline. It is a endeavor of intellectual pursuit. Is it easy? Absolutely not however liberalism is nearly the complete opposite.
 
DifferentDrummr said:
The context here is on a personal level.

In other words, is it better for your own overall well-being if you identify as liberal, or if you identify as conservative? And why?

What do you think?
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Identity politics is the problem.
 
Phys251 said:
What made you change?
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Just to give you an idea of how left I was, my son's (born in 1975) name is Che. I raised my kids on welfare...I was one of those poor, divorced mother's raising two kids in the slums. I was born into poverty in a lower working class Catholic family and that meant there was no way I would ever vote anything but Labor (Australian Labor Party - like your democrats) and struggled for most of my life. Then I went to TAFE because my daughter was turning 16 and I would lose welfare benefits and I needed skills to go into the workforce. I got the results from my courses to get into University...long, boring story about struggle and low self-esteem etc. I listened to the lecturers rave on about Marxism and equality and then go home to their mansions and large incomes, drink expensive red wine while marking papers on Marxism etc. I started to think "Hmm, a tad hypocritical methinks" and began to read and think outside the square I grew up in. When I started teaching and looked at the results of the past few decades of education policy, parenting skills (or lack thereof), politics, the realities of the world, society in general, a world moving into changes I cannot understand or approve of...I ran to the right and intend to stay there! Don't worry, I am getting old and me and my kind will soon be gone and you lefties can have the world you desire. Just one friendly word of advice.....Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it and have to live through it :)
 
AlbqOwl said:
I identify with classical liberalism or the libertarianism that was the ideology of the Founders. The most blessed people are those who find harmony in voluntary mutual support and effort and allow the individual to be who and what he or she is without interference.
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If the founders were libertarian, why did they get rid of the Articles of Confederation?
 
Master PO said:
Easy question, but since albqowl is a pretty good poster, i will not bother
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The new Constitution did not increase liberty, it increased the power of central government. That is not libertarian.
 
devildavid said:
The new Constitution did not increase liberty, it increased the power of central government. That is not libertarian.
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The new constituion made sure the people had maximum liberty by leaving the people alone, the new federal goverment were not delagated any powers concerning the lives liberty or property of the people...zero power...federalist 45 and 84
 
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