Thursday 13 - #4
Published Thu, May 17 2007 9:17 AM
Technorati Tags: Conservatives
Thirteen Things about Conservatives
- A conservative is a person that sees value in the traditions and mores that were handed down to us by our forebears.
- Modern day conservatives have a tendency to be "classical liberals".
- A conservative typically believes in individual liberty and individual responsibility.
- Most conservatives don't believe that the solution to every problem is bigger government. Most problems can be dealt with one-on-one, individual to individual. Bigger government just gets in the way.
- Most conservatives aren't typically "anti-" anything. At least not in the way that modern day liberals are. A conservative may be against illegal immigration for instance, but not against immigration in general. Similarly a conservative may be against abortion on demand, without being against abortion in all cases.
- Conservatives aren't typically "activists". Much of what you see from "activists" implies a need for government to be involved in solving problems the activists way. Conservatives typically want government to stay out of the way. This is one of the reasons why conservatives typically don't make splashy headlines with violent protest rallies.
- Conservatives recognize that people are imperfect beings. Because of this, and because people end up running governments, they favor restrictions on government over empowering government.
- Conservatives understand conditioned responses. They understand the power of reward and punishment. A conservative knows that when you reward a given behavior you get more of that behavior. Likewise a conservative knows that when you punish a given behavior, you get less of that behavior. This is why many conservatives are against social welfare programs that don't require benefit recipients to take responsibility for themselves. It's also why conservatives are in favor of punishing criminals instead of giving them therapy.
- Conservatives believe that free people can accomplish more than people that are enslaved to others, whether it be literal slavery or financial slavery. A person that is free to choose what they do and receives a reward for their efforts will work harder than someone who cannot choose what they do and is punished if they don't do what their "master" tells them to do.
- Conservatives believe in equality of opportunity rather than equality of outcome. Not everyone will work toward the same goals. The difference in the way people approach their lives has a great deal to do with the way their circumstances play out, resulting in unequal outcomes. Requiring equal outcomes for all removes the incentive to try to excel since equal outcomes for everyone implies that the equality is at the lowest common denominator.
- Conservatives believe in teaching people the things that they need to know in order to succeed in life. A good education is important to a conservative if it teaches him or her how to think, rather than what to think. A person with the ability to think clearly, armed with knowledge can do great things in life. A person without the ability to think clearly, and poorly armed with knowledge will be unable to compete in the arena of ideas either in the job market at home, or the world at large, without support from a horde of others.
- Conservatives believe in property rights. A man that can own his property and do with it as he pleases will value that property more and care for it better than a man that cannot own his property and can have it taken away at the whim of the state.
- Because conservatives believe in personal responsibility, they also understand accountability. Conservatives that fail to meet societal standards or their own standards generally accept the consequences of their actions. Contrast this with non-conservative politicians such as Rep. William Jefferson who was caught with $90,000 in bribe money stashed in a freezer and yet ended up lauded for it. Contrast this with Sen. Feinstein and her possible violation of Senate ethics rules with regard to the military construction contracts awarded to her husbands company while she was serving on the committee reviewing those contracts.
Links to other Thursday Thirteens! (My trackback filter won't let you trackback unless you link to this post, so you can leave a comment I will add you as I get time today.):
- Barbara H.
- The Random Yak
- David
- beth
- jenny®
- chubbycheeks
- Your name here...
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The Random Yak trackbacked with "Thursday 13: New U.S. Postal Slogans"
This week’s Thursday 13: brought to you by the new U.S. Postal Service regulations. (Yes, I’m still angry - but at least now I have permission.)
Thirteen Proposed New Slogans for the United States Postal Service
1. Would you like extra po...
Planck's Constant trackbacked with "TT 13 Ways to tell if you are a Surrender Monkey"
But if you are not sure if you are a Surrender Monkey, here are 13 ways to tell if you are a sniveling, loser, enemy of this country.
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Barbara H. responded with: T13
 | When I saw your comment on the T13 site that yours was about conservatives, I was bracing myself for a negative, snarky post against conservatives. I was pleasantly surprised! :) And pleased, since I am a conservative. This is a very well-written and reasonable post. |
David responded with:
 | Nice list.
"Modern day conservatives have a tendency to be "classical liberals"."
Very nearly, except for politicians who claim to be conservatives but are instead just "me too" leftists, dragging their heels a la
"Conservatism's history has been that it demurs to each aggression of the progressive party, and aims to save its credit by a respectable amount of growling, but always acquiesces at last in the innovation. What was the resisted novelty of yesterday is today one of the accepted principles of conservatism; it is now conservative only in affecting to resist the next innovation, which will tomorrow be forced upon its timidity and will be succeeded by some third revolution, to be denounced and then adopted in its turn. American conservatism is merely the shadow that follows Radicalism as it moves forward to perdition. It remains behind it, but never retards it, and always advances near its leader. This pretended salt hath utterly lost its savor: wherewith shall it be salted? Its impotency is not hard to explain. It is worthless because it is the conservatism of expediency only, and not of sturdy principle. It tends to risk nothing serious for the sake of truth."R.L. Dabney |
Perri Nelson responded with:
 | It's a shame that R.L. Dabney was pretty much right about so-called conservative politicians.
The Republican party is supposedly a conservative party, but it really isn't. Most of our Republicans are conservative in name only, and every time they move to the "center" they accomplish a little bit more of the left's agenda, just as R.L. Dabney said. |
beth responded with:
 | Excellent, well thought out post! The personal responsibility aspect of this really gets under my skin. I do not understand how people who profess to be compassionate and concerned for the underdog are absolutely unwilling to take responsibility for their own actions.
The progressive movement is all about assessing blame and enslaving it's followers through increasing dependency. |
jenny® responded with:
 | well said! or shall i say...well- composed! I consider myself a conservative and I totally agree with your list...great one!!! |
chubbycheeks responded with:
 | Wow! I thought this was going to a bash on conservatives. What a relief :) |
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