Seen on Conservapedia: A liberal is someone who loves double standards -- for his own (temporary) advantage. Hmm.....I guess this includes me? If you must hate me, so be it. I'll get over it.
In relation to how arbitrary regulations seem to be concerning government attempting to control peoples' lives through encouraging and sometimes seemingly forcing certain behaviors, why does the manner in which we define liberalism and conservatism in our society so often seem to betray their true meanings?
Is environmental control (thought of as a liberal pursuit) really liberal? Or is it more conservative? Liberals should by definition be more about “live and let live” but instead they want to implement strict rules such as banning smoking everywhere. I really dislike smoking but deep down I believe any sort of no-smoking policy should be determined by the owner of any given establishment, in general. If there are enough people that “hate” smoke, this will be a business opportunity for those wishing to fill this void.
The arbitrariness of these kinds of things just reinforces my point that people generally let a collective mentality “think” for them. Of course just a small dose of scrutiny exposes the arbitrariness inherent in most “group” thought.
Liberalism seems to me a cross between conservatism and libertarianism. Libertarianism's mantra might be “live and let live”. Simply let the chips fall exactly as they will. Conservatism by definition should revolve around implementing regulations and laws in order to conserve tangible and intangible qualities of life as a means to uphold tradition. We might say it advocates or at least attempts to advocate the status quo through control. How about upholding the tradition of SLAVERY? I believe there was a war fought largely over "protecting" this status quo?
Since liberalism seems to arbitrarily pick and choose issues and ideas to control, it essentially violates any libertarian premise of “live and let live”. Conservapedia's claim follows suit then: liberalism IS predicated on double standards.
However, I don't believe anybody avoids double standards. Who out there does NOT form convictions, opinions and actions solely around those which are advantageous to HIMSELF/HERSELF/SELECTIVELY CHOSEN CAUSES?
If this is the case, perhaps we are all of us liberals, many of us masquerading under the auspices of conservatism and libertarianism.
I believe liberalism is essentially the spectrum that spans libertarianism on the left all the way through conservatism on the right. Is there anybody out there completely sold out to either end of the spectrum? Not likely. We all seem to be stuck somewhere in the middle. (see The Trouble With "The Middle" for clarification).
Liberalism's arbitrary issues and ideas are essentially the “zeitgeist” or “hot-button” issues of the day.
On the other hand, I think conservatism has mix-ups and mismatches much like liberalism. Big business is associated predominantly with conservatism yet seems more akin to liberalism in that most conservatives tend to think in a libertarian way with a few arbitrary regulations implemented here and there to prevent cheating or despotism (which seems to be what capitalism “degenerates” into if left completely unregulated). Of course there is much disagreement over which regulations should be implemented because, once again, they are merely arbitrary. It seems the political parties of the day evolve to suit society's changing views based on the “zeitgeist”. Behold! Morality does evolve!
It seems then that conservatism in its strictest sense would be what liberalism appears to be in the USA, at least concerning capitalism and business. Whereas liberals seemingly attempt to control every aspect of businesses, is this not what conservatives should want to do? Strictly speaking, is not conservatism protecting and upholding tradition through control and regulation?
It seems to me that this “mismatch” if you will, is due to people not thinking for themselves. Instead, they let a collective think for them. The question is, who or what is the “brain trust” behind this collective thought which seems “mismatched”? Perhaps a person or group with a self serving agenda of some kind? In this way, people that let a collective think for them are essentially surrogates for some person's or group's self serving interests! And we call ourselves FREE?
Insofar as my definition of liberalism is concerned, it seems we are all liberal, of course many of us dressed in conservatives' and libertarians' garb. What could possibly make all of us liberal? The fact that we all arbitrarily believe some things should be regulated whereas other things should not no doubt motivated by personal preferences and life experiences, essentially for our own (temporary) advantages! We all seem to be “stuck” between conservatism and libertarianism. Not that there is the slightest thing wrong with this. It just is.
I think this once again reinforces the role that continuities play in this reality. Our only method of dealing with these continuities is to attempt to intertwine discontinuous solutions to issues that can only be resolved continuously. (see Drawing Lines for clarification) And how could we not? It is the only conceivable method of dealing with the nature of our reality. This of course creates many of the paradoxes and hence disagreements in life. Could one be libertarian or conservative yet simultaneously be liberal? It seems so, does it not?
In relation to how arbitrary regulations seem to be concerning government attempting to control peoples' lives through encouraging and sometimes seemingly forcing certain behaviors, why does the manner in which we define liberalism and conservatism in our society so often seem to betray their true meanings?
Is environmental control (thought of as a liberal pursuit) really liberal? Or is it more conservative? Liberals should by definition be more about “live and let live” but instead they want to implement strict rules such as banning smoking everywhere. I really dislike smoking but deep down I believe any sort of no-smoking policy should be determined by the owner of any given establishment, in general. If there are enough people that “hate” smoke, this will be a business opportunity for those wishing to fill this void.
The arbitrariness of these kinds of things just reinforces my point that people generally let a collective mentality “think” for them. Of course just a small dose of scrutiny exposes the arbitrariness inherent in most “group” thought.
Liberalism seems to me a cross between conservatism and libertarianism. Libertarianism's mantra might be “live and let live”. Simply let the chips fall exactly as they will. Conservatism by definition should revolve around implementing regulations and laws in order to conserve tangible and intangible qualities of life as a means to uphold tradition. We might say it advocates or at least attempts to advocate the status quo through control. How about upholding the tradition of SLAVERY? I believe there was a war fought largely over "protecting" this status quo?
Since liberalism seems to arbitrarily pick and choose issues and ideas to control, it essentially violates any libertarian premise of “live and let live”. Conservapedia's claim follows suit then: liberalism IS predicated on double standards.
However, I don't believe anybody avoids double standards. Who out there does NOT form convictions, opinions and actions solely around those which are advantageous to HIMSELF/HERSELF/SELECTIVELY CHOSEN CAUSES?
If this is the case, perhaps we are all of us liberals, many of us masquerading under the auspices of conservatism and libertarianism.
I believe liberalism is essentially the spectrum that spans libertarianism on the left all the way through conservatism on the right. Is there anybody out there completely sold out to either end of the spectrum? Not likely. We all seem to be stuck somewhere in the middle. (see The Trouble With "The Middle" for clarification).
Liberalism's arbitrary issues and ideas are essentially the “zeitgeist” or “hot-button” issues of the day.
On the other hand, I think conservatism has mix-ups and mismatches much like liberalism. Big business is associated predominantly with conservatism yet seems more akin to liberalism in that most conservatives tend to think in a libertarian way with a few arbitrary regulations implemented here and there to prevent cheating or despotism (which seems to be what capitalism “degenerates” into if left completely unregulated). Of course there is much disagreement over which regulations should be implemented because, once again, they are merely arbitrary. It seems the political parties of the day evolve to suit society's changing views based on the “zeitgeist”. Behold! Morality does evolve!
It seems then that conservatism in its strictest sense would be what liberalism appears to be in the USA, at least concerning capitalism and business. Whereas liberals seemingly attempt to control every aspect of businesses, is this not what conservatives should want to do? Strictly speaking, is not conservatism protecting and upholding tradition through control and regulation?
It seems to me that this “mismatch” if you will, is due to people not thinking for themselves. Instead, they let a collective think for them. The question is, who or what is the “brain trust” behind this collective thought which seems “mismatched”? Perhaps a person or group with a self serving agenda of some kind? In this way, people that let a collective think for them are essentially surrogates for some person's or group's self serving interests! And we call ourselves FREE?
Insofar as my definition of liberalism is concerned, it seems we are all liberal, of course many of us dressed in conservatives' and libertarians' garb. What could possibly make all of us liberal? The fact that we all arbitrarily believe some things should be regulated whereas other things should not no doubt motivated by personal preferences and life experiences, essentially for our own (temporary) advantages! We all seem to be “stuck” between conservatism and libertarianism. Not that there is the slightest thing wrong with this. It just is.
I think this once again reinforces the role that continuities play in this reality. Our only method of dealing with these continuities is to attempt to intertwine discontinuous solutions to issues that can only be resolved continuously. (see Drawing Lines for clarification) And how could we not? It is the only conceivable method of dealing with the nature of our reality. This of course creates many of the paradoxes and hence disagreements in life. Could one be libertarian or conservative yet simultaneously be liberal? It seems so, does it not?
There is certainly nothing libertarian about liberals. See the article: "Liberal Progressive Muggers."
ReplyDeletehttp://constitutionparti.blogspot.com/
Thanks for responding. Just curious, how did you happen across my blog? In any case, my post doesn't imply that liberals are libertarian. Rather it implies that libertarians are liberal.....at least SOMETIMES. But if you pay careful attention to what I claim, I point out that if you compare the TRUE definitions of both liberalism and libertarianism, they share much more in common than either of them do to CONSERVATISM. It is society that has perverted the definition of these concepts. And my opinion is things like this happen because PEOPLE DON'T THINK FOR THEMSELVES. THEY MERELY SERVE AS SURROGATES FOR SOME OTHER PERSON'S OR GROUP'S SELF-SERVING INTERESTS.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I say we are ALL OF US liberals (at least the way Conservapedia defines it) is that we all ultimately form are convictions and opinions around DOUBLE STANDARDS for our own (temporary) advantages.