Thoughts from a brilliant conservative on the differences between a conservative and a liberal

[WVPATX]

‘Does It Do Good?’ vs. ‘Does It Feel Good?’

I think by and large, Prager has hit the nail on the head. Conservatives want a policy to work, to do good. Liberals tend to be much more interested in whether that policy makes them feel good.

The war on poverty is a great example. The war makes liberals feel good, that they are doing something to help the poor. Conservatives look at it and seeing that it doesn't work, want to radically change it and get accused of being anti the poor.

Climate change is another example. The battle makes liberals feel good that they are doing something about the planet. Conservatives believe that actions we take will never work and will destroy our quality of life.

Education is another example. Liberals always want to spend more money even though we spend more money per student than any other country save Switzerland. Spending more would make them feel good. Conservatives think we are throwing money down a rat hole and want to change the system primarily by adding competition.

 

[Popeer]

Totally spot on. So many programs are so entrenched we can't even talk about changing them without getting blasted. Social Security is a prime example: thinking people know it can't go on as it is, but let anyone suggest changes and the Democrats terrify people already drawing benefits with "they want to kill Social Security!" :scream:

 

[op2]

I think that liberals as a whole are more of an idealistic bent and want everything to be all nice-y happy and that can affect views but in the big picture whatever works works.

Conservatives are more for conventional religion but while liberals are less about conventional religion I think they're more of a "Nature is God" kind of bent and that can express itself in anti-scientific ways, such as being anti-GMO or thinking that affecting nature is interfering with some kind of cosmic harmony. So they're sometimes more like "Let Nature be" while conservatives are sometimes more like "God gave us dominion over Nature to do as we see fit."

But the thing is, both of those are abstract philosophies that don't necessarily translate into good or bad in the real world. Regardless of your motivating philosophy, whatever effects your policies have in the real world is what counts. Burning fossil fuels isn't inherently good or bad, rather the effect it has is what matters.

Ideologies by definition aren't practical, unless your ideology is to be practical, and political ideologies typically aren't "be practical."