People fail to understand politics and choose instead to avoid it like the plague. Politics can be confusing what with all the deception. And every group has extremists, and extremism is indicative of mental instability. But liberal and conservative are value systems. One is either liberal in their views or conservative. In the past, I got really tired of politics because I failed to understand it or how crucial it was to maintain our country. We must pick a side or just simply be a silent spectator as things crash down around us.
Liberal values and the issues
Liberals consider it the job of the government to provide and enforce equal opportunity and equal rights for everyone. It is the responsibility of government to protect its citizens’ civil liberties and basic human rights. Liberals believe that it is the duty of our duly elected government to solve problems and ensure that no one is in need.
Liberals are for affirmative action. Affirmative action ensures that everyone in the work force is afforded the same opportunities as everyone else. A liberal believes that it is the duty of the government to enforce affirmative action.Liberals are opposed to the death penalty as it is inhumane and cruel. Every execution has the potential of being the murder of an innocent human being.
Millions are spent in attempts to stave off executions. The ultimate cost is greater than imprisonment.
The cost of incarcerating one inmate is roughly $31,000 a year or $87 per day. It costs 90,000 more per year to house inmates on death row than it does in general population. Cases without the death penalty cost $740,000.
Cases with the death penalty cost an average of 1.26 million. Not only is it inhumane, it’s ridiculously expensive.
Liberals believe it is the responsibility of the government to maintain a healthy economy and to protect the average citizen from “big business”. Liberals believe government regulation is necessary in order to, “level the playing field”, so to speak.
On abortion, Liberals believe it is a woman’s right to choose what to do with her body. Women have a right to safe, affordable abortions. And the government must protect that right as with any other. Furthermore, liberals believe that the government should provide abortions free of charge to those women who cannot afford them.
Liberals believe in a strong, government supported education system, not a voucher system. They believe instead in raising teachers salaries and reducing class sizes to increase the value of a public education.
Liberals support life-saving embryonic stem cell research, reduction in fossil fuel use and increased exploration and research into alternative fuel sources. They believe physician assisted suicide, that it is a person’s right to choose to die with dignity in order to end their own suffering.
The preceding few paragraphs have been a sample of Liberal values. To make a long story short, Liberals believe we should live free and equal and that the government is here to ensure that’s possible.
Conservative values?
Conservatives believe a fetus is a human life with human rights and so oppose abortion. They believe that the government should not assist in these endeavors. They think that taxes should not be spent on helping women to get safe abortions.
Conservatives are opposed to affirmative action. They believe, instead, that hiring selections should be made solely on ability. They believe that it is unfair to choose a person based on their race. They are for the death penalty, believing it a fair and just trade for the unlawful taking of human life.
Conservatives want a free market system of competitive capitalism; in other words, a dog eat dog world. They want the government interference in their affairs to be minimal. They support a school voucher program, believing that it would make schools more competitive and thus would improve education.
Opposing embryonic stem cell research, conservatives instead support adult and umbilical cord only research. They consider embryo’s to be human life. Primarily deniers of climate change, conservatives believe that oil and gas are good and abundant sources of energy.
Slightly paranoid conservatives believe that if assisted suicide were legal it would empower doctors and insurance companies to withhold life-saving measures.
It’s not surprising to me that they are strong supporters of the right to own guns.
Now you must decide
So now you know, if you did not already, just a little bit about what differentiates the two positions. Make no mistake, there is a difference between liberals and conservatives. The reasons for their respective anger is entirely different. You read them and decide which positions make you angry and I think you’ll get a better idea about what kind of human being you are.
