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Machine Gunner
What are conservative and liberal ideals?
I had an interesting discussion with my son and his friend yesterday - both juniors at CU - about what were the tenets of conservatism and liberalism. I disagreed with most of his friend's positions - think he had conservative and liberal confused. However, I told him I would ask here and see what a mostly conservative crowd would say - and he would ask his friends who professed to be liberal and see what they say - and we would compare notes. Anyway, here is more or less what I told him. This isn't a republican vs Democrat thing; some republicans act more based on the liberal tenets, for example. Feel free to add anything else you can think of:
CONSERVATIVE TENETS
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General
- Freedom trumps security
- Government should be kept small and limited to constitutional activities
- Constitution and Bill of Rights are sacrosanct and must be rigidly adhered to by all government. Constitution only changed by established processes
- Courts must interpret law based on Constitution/Bill of Rights
- Words have a traditional and well-understood meaning & should not be redefined for political advantage
- Behavior matters, there is a different between right and wrong and right actions should always be pursued
Fiscal Conservatism
- Debt and deficits matter, and weaken us
- Budgets are important and must be stuck to
- Taxes should be kept low across the board. Business taxes reduced to encourage job creation, entrepreneurialism, and national financial strength
- Reduced regulation to favor private investment and business growth
Foreign Policy
- Intervention in foreign conflict/wars should be based on US national interests
- Unilateralism should be pursued if strong US interests and other countries don't want to participate
- Win wars with overwhelming force and quickly. No occupations or police actions.
- Maintain a strong military and strong borders
- At least a strong suspicion of UN activities, if not complete opposition to involvement with the UN
Social Conservatism
- Pro-life and pro traditional marriage
- Recognition of judeo-christian basis of US foundation
- Support for homeschooling and charter schools, public education funding should be based on education metrics/results
LIBERAL TENETS
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General
- The ends justify the means
- Security much more important then freedom
- Change the meaning of words in order to control the conversation
- "Nuance" in conversation is highly valued, and a sign of intelligence
- Political correctness to be taught and enforced wherever possible
- Courts should look to how other countries deal with similar issues, even if different than Constitution/Bill of Rights
- Political power and getting elected govern actions and behavior
- Moral relativism; no absolute "right" and "wrong"
- Government must always facilitate easier living for minorities in order to fix injustice, whether in voting, access to healthcare, or government entitlements
Fiscal Liberalism
- Deficit spending OK
- Government and Fed can control the economy and keep really bad things from happening
- Taxes should generally be increased across the board, and steadily
- Tax and regulation should be increasingly directed at high earners
- More and larger government social programs, especially for minorities
- Transferring wealth from rich to poor should be pursued all the time
- Increased regulation to protect the environment and keep businesses honest
- Government "investment" to help favor industries favored by liberals - green energy, for example
Foreign Policy
- Pro-UN
- Favors nation building and "spreading democracy"
- Favors intervention in police actions, genocides, and internal conflicts of other countries
- Disfavors unilateral military actions by the US
- Strong limits of the size and capability of the US military
- Favors weak borders to facilitate illegal immigration
Social Liberalism
- Female reproductive rights (Taxpayer funded abortion and contraception)
- Pro-Gay marriage/adoption
- Appeal of multiculturalism and affinity with muslim teachings
- Opposed to home schooling and charter schools; more funding power to public education at all levels and teacher unions
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