What is the basic worldview difference that makes some liberal and others conservative?

[Kablooie]

My, admittedly simplistic, view is that conservatives are concerned with "What's good for ME?" while liberals tend to think more of "What's good for US?".

The conservative view focuses on NOW because that is what affects ME.

Liberals think more towards the future because future generations are part of US.

[The Straight Story]

1. John Nash

Do what is best for yourself and the group for the best result.

Seems both sides tend to ignore that ideal.

[Skittles]

2. I don't have to know other people to care about them

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

3. Do you instinctively identify with the oppressors

or the oppressed? Answer that and there's the difference,

[begin_within]

5. In the 1990s it became fashionable to say,

"I'm socially liberal and fiscally conservative," meaning, "Yeah, I care about the oppressed, I just want their money."

[BeFree]

31. Well

I am socially liberal and fiscally conservative, fashionable or not.

What socially liberal means to me is that people should not be hampered by the government except when their actions harm others.

Fiscally conservative means that government should closely watch what is collected in taxes and does so very fairly, then spends that tax money in ways that helps the most people with very little wasted.

It does not mean I want the oppressed's money. So how you come up with that I don't know. It just means that the government should be conservative with our money much the same way ecological conservatives care about the environment. Be very careful. Don't waste it. Use it wisely.

[Kitty Herder]

6. I think you've nailed it.

That seems to be the main difference to me.

[nomorenomore08]

16. Or to put it another way, do you identify with the wealthy and powerful, or with "everybody else"?

:shrug:

[rwheeler31]

4. Conservatives are very frightened and repressed, they

know they will not be accepted if they dissent.

[omega minimo]

7. potty training

[rocktivity]

8. Freedom vs responsibility

If you believe in personal freedom and social responsibility, you're liberal.
If you believe in personal responsibility and social freedom, you're conservative.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[Kablooie]

But the christian right does not believe in social freedom.

They believe all others should follow the same social restrictions that they choose to follow.

And personal resposibility seems to mean to be responsible only to yourself as many greedy Republicans have shown.

Your definition doesn't quite work for me.

[LeftishBrit]

33. I might put it more in terms...

that a liberal/left-winger sees the main duty of government as maintaining public services and ensuring a safety net, while a conservative/right-winger sees it almost exclusively as protecting society from enemies. Thus, a right-winger will generally accept government spending and impositions on freedom, often to a greater extent than liberals, if this involves fighting crime and terrorism at home, or fighting wars overseas; but is far less likely to accept government spending or intervention for domestic social purposes, especially if this involves helping poor people or minority group members.

[rocktivity]

43. I stand corrected

I should have written "govermental" instead of "social" responsibility vs. freedom.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[greyl]

12. Social freedom is a conservative value? Don't think so. nt

[Kablooie]

13. You are free to follow my social views. That's what they seem to mean.

[rocktivity]

35. DING DING DING! Kablooie, you're our grand prize winner!

You are free to follow my social views...

More specifically, conservatives say, "You are free AS LONG AS you follow my social views."

:headbang:
rocktivity

[rocktivity]

37. dupe, sorry n/t

.

[rocktivity]

36. I'll rephrase the question, your honor

If you believe in personal freedom and GOVERNMENTAL responsibility, you're liberal.
If you believe in personal responsibility and GOVERNMENTAL freedom, you're conservative.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[ddeclue]

9. That's an oversimplification.

Some conservatives think that they are doing the right thing for society (they're wrong) not for themselves.


The problem is not necessarily that they are selfish (though many are) it's that their arguments don't make sense when compared to empirical reaility.

I think it is that a lot of them live in an economically sheltered situation either:

1) They got rich too quick and too easily and don't understand why everybody can't.
2) They were born rich and don't understand real life.
3) They are serving in the military and are relatively financially sheltered from reality.


Some of them are "religious" conservatives whose agenda is about their version of God and America and ordinary political discourse is a distant second fiddle to that.

[Greyhound]

10. Hard question, especially since the very definitions have been

twisted and changed so often that few can even agree what liberal and conservative are. What is "American liberalism"? We see people on this board claiming to be liberal one minute, and defending practices that would make a Victorian banker blush the next.

Most of the people you meet on the street suffer from a complete absence of knowledge regarding history, literature, geography, science, math, etc., due to, IMO, our factory school model. They seem to be quite content to let others make all of their decisions and just tell them what to do. This description fits both Democrats and Republiks.

OTOH, this country is full self-identifying conservatives that consistently back policies that are killing them, destroying their lifestyles, and stealing their futures. They understand that they are working harder and harder for less and less, but are just sure it is because of some "liberal" policy.

So, since we have no consensus on what the terms liberal and conservative even mean, how can we discern the difference in worldviews?

[Hamlette]

11. Democrats feel greatful, Republicans feel entitled.

"It's my money you are stealing by taxing me" vs "I'm glad I make enough to be able to help pay my own way. Gawd knows I got a free ride for the first 20-30 years of my life."

"I worked hard to get when I am and I don't want blacks/tax man/lazy poor people stealing what I earned." vs "I had lots of help to get where I am, born white, into a middle class family in a rich country that could educate me and provide good nutrition and health care. It is my responsibility to help others achieve what I got with lots of help."

Democrats know they stand on the shoulders of giants, Republicans, as Ann Richards so famously said about W "was born on third base and think he hit a homer."

We are taught the difference from childhood, mostly from our parents. Like religion, that world view is very difficult for most people to change.

[ananda]

14. Here is the basic difference in a nutshell.

Conservatives/rightwingers think that they were born to rule others and serve themselves.

Liberals/leftwingers think that they were born to serve others and rule themselves.

[Warpy]

15. Funny you should ask that

I ran across a lecture on that very subject that seems to be right on the money.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html

It's well worth the download, as all the TED lectures are.

[anonymous171]

17. It has nothing to do with our worldviews. Liberals want more government, Conservatives want less.

That's the general difference between the two.

[izzie]

19. I am not so sure I think you are right on this.

Most of the stuff you read, on the conservatives, want to make laws that seem to work on every day people, the same as the liberals. It is what laws they want that seem to make the story different. Take a thing like credit laws. Conservatives want to get every cent they can in profits and liberal want to make it a fair thing so every one can have credit yet I never heard a liberal say a company should not make a fair profit.

[ContinentalOp]

21. That sounds like exactly what a Republican would say.

While ignoring the fact that Bush massively expanded government and spending with things like the Dept of Homeland Security. The basic difference is that conservatives pretend like they don't like government until there's something they personally want out of it, while liberals openly recognize that government plays a useful role in society.

[anonymous171]

54. That's what I meant. We believe that Government should help the people.

Republicans believe that Government should only do what people cannot do for themselves.

[Crunchy Frog]

28. Except when it comes to bedrooms and reproductive tracts

and a gigantic, bloated military.

[wickerwoman]

51. And wiretapping, torture, drug laws, euthanasia,

"freedom of speech" zones at protests, censorship in libraries, mandatory minimum sentencing, immigration, strike busting, etc.

Really Republicans want more government for the poor and less government for the rich.

[Festivito]

32. Cons say that liberals want more government, but Cons con you.

It's been the opposite each somewhat liberal Dem and somewhat conservative Pub president.

[Overseas]

41. I agree!

Confident that their anti-government talk has them covered, conservatives have enlarged the government while more liberal administrations like Clinton's have worked to reduce its size.

Clinton Gore streamlined government. They took pride in eliminating lots of government jobs. Sensitive to criticism that Democrats favor "big government," they strove to make things more efficient.

Bush Cheney on the other hand, were confident that Republican anti-government rhetoric would shield them. Republicans would continue to claim to be anti-big-government, even as they did the opposite. They control our corporate media, so they can shape the discourse about what they do. So Bush Cheney enlarged government considerably and appointed their friends to do a "heck of a job" running it into the ground. In that way they could serve both of their interests-- privatizing for profiteering as well as pushing the anti-government messaging by demonstrating the incompetence of "big government."

[Occam Bandage]

18. Identification with government as a mother or government as a father. nt

[ContinentalOp]

20. Yep, I think Lakoff explains this split well. -nt-

[WildEyedLiberal]

22. Empathy n/t

[cabluedem]

23. Empathy and plain old human need for more:Greed, yes.

[Overseas]

48. That was the first word that sprung to my mind too -- Empathy

Apparently it is anathema to the GOP. It is shocking to listen to them mocking the idea of selecting empathetic judges.

[livefreest]

24. i wonder if there is a little bit of heritage.

the same regions that fought for secession are roughly the same regions which had segregation and are roughly the same regions which are today profoundly evangelical and socially conservative. Outside of the south there are many people who identify with them.
Everything else, talking about values, fiscal conservatism, personal responsibility, is just window dressing. Fiscal conservatives love spending on wars... actually social conservatives too, like evangelical Christians in the south who love so much the idea of of an end-of-the-world war with Muslim countries just on that basis. I don't know if anyone hear ever caught a broadcast of an evangelist called John Hagee. The same social conservative who love personal responsibility want absolutely the government into the wombs of women everywhere. And where is the compassion on the part of so many evangelicals who support the death penalty?

so could it be that the divide is based only on the heritage each person wants to identify with?

Now, i'm liberal and you will excuse me if i don't see any flaw in liberalism and progressivism.;-)

[MedleyMisty]

29. I grew up in the rural South

Actually in the same town where Andy Griffith grew up and what he based Mayberry on.

We weren't hardcore hating fundies. And we still aren't - I recently joined Facebook and except for one "moderate", every single person I went to high school with who has their political views listed on their profile is liberal. They still aren't hardcore haters and aren't fundies.

Actually, in my 28 years of living here in North Carolina, I don't think I've ever come across a hardcore Republican in real life. People who aren't very informed and basically only identify as Republican because their parents or other peers do, yeah. But even those are in a minority.

I don't know, maybe it's a generational thing. 75% of the people who voted who are in my age group here voted for Obama.

[LAGC]

25. Human beings as inherently "good" or inherently "evil"

Liberals generally believe people are basically "good" and can be allowed to live as they please, with minimal restriction. Conservatives believe people are basically "evil" -- sinners -- that require laws to check their nefarious behaviors...

[eShirl]

34. that's it

exactly

[OneBlueSky]

26. actually, it's deeper than "what's good for" . . .

when conservatives look at the world and all the people that inhabit it, they see "them" . . .

when liberals look at the world and all the people that inhabit it, they see "us" . . .

and the "them" and the "us" extend beyond humanity to encompass all of creation -- not only men, women, and children, but birds, trees, rocks, flowers, bears, and all the rest . . .

so it's really a much deeper world view that separates the two, a world view that precedes the "what's good for" question . . .

[pnorman]

27. Whan someone indicates that he/she identifies with the Wealthy and Powerful,

that person is expressing a "legitimate" point of view. I don't agree with it; I actually DESPISE it. But what really BURNS me, is when they imply that doing so is exhibiting GREAT MORAL COURAGE --- as though they risk being placed on the No Fly List!

pnorman

[LeftishBrit]

30. My view...

is that the fundamental difference is between those who think that the weaker in society need to be protected against the strong, even if this leads to some restrictions on the ability of the stronger to advance themselves, versus those who think that the stronger should have an unfettered right to trample on the weaker if it serves their ends, and that the weaker deserve their low position.

'Stronger' often means 'rich'; but can also mean physically strong; well-connected; a member of a majority group; etc.

If in everyday life, you often notice yourself reacting with comments like:

"It's only natural for kids to bully someone who can't stand up for themselves"
or
"It's too bad that he hits her, but she's probably provoking him in some way"
or
"Helping people too much just encourages them to feel sorry for themselves"
or
"People nowadays aren't as tough as their grandparents, because life is made too easy"
or
"I'm doing OK, and if you're not, it must be because you aren't trying hard enough"

then you could be on the way to becoming a right-winger!

[Echo In Light]

38. Irrational attitudes of submission to authority

[Cresent City Kid]

39. The original post nailed it

It comes down to "we're all in this together" versus "every man for himself".

Liberals want to keep moving forward. Economic conservatives want to freeze time at 1890. Social conservatives are still fighting the renaissance. The GOP is the economic conservatives embracing the social conservatives to pad their numbers.

[newspeak]

44. I think some conservatives believe in pulling yourself up by your bootstraps

and the wealthy really deserve what they have even though some of those wealthy have stolen labor, stolen inventions and murdered to gain. Murdered those especially in labor (you know, gotta keep the sheep in line). When one views the health of one's community, country, world--and maintains a healthy social network-good paying jobs, quality education, affordable health-then the communities as a whole thrives (crime and poverty decrease), I don't think too many conservatives think in that perspective. I believe many might think, hey more crime, I can make a profit off of this. I believe some lack empathy. Like the woman I spoke with after the first bombs were dropped on Iraq, she just shrugged and told me its war, when I mentioned all of the innocent people, especially children, who were going to die. See, she didn't care, it didn't affect her or her family, so it was okay to kill someone else's children. NO DAMN EMPATHY!!!!!

[Lyric]

40. It's not hard to figure.

Liberals = More social freedom, less corporate freedom, less militarism.

Conservatives = More corporate freedom, less social freedom, more militarism.

Libertarians = More corporate freedom, more social freedom, less militarism.

[Winterblues]

42. Conservatives feel it is better to be feared than loved

Liberals feel the exact opposite..

[Orsino]

45. Social responsibility. Self-sacrifice that may benefit strangers.

Conservatives, meanwhile, still believe themselves to be living in a zero-sum game, and it terrifies them.

[PassingFair]

46. W-A-R. Conservatives LOVE it!

I never met a conservative that wasn't
chomping at the bit to attack another
country. For whatever reason they cook up.

A large part of the conservative vote comes
from areas that RELY on W-A-R and it's related
industries as their ECONOMY.

They vote for local representation based on
what senator or congressman will keep the local
BASE up and running.

They send their children to war because it
is traditional and expected. It pays for
their way of life.

The only war-loving liberals I know are
the AIPAC bunch in the DLC, and they are
focused on one area.

[Ohio Joe]

47. Sanity? - nt

[The2ndWheel]

49. Everyone is a Me

I think the basic difference would be where you stand on the default setting of the various forms of Us that are out there.

Both liberals and conservatives like their particular forms of organization, and those would be the various forms of Us. So depending on which Us you're talking about, any one of us can easily be a Me or an Us thinker.

[Echo In Light]

50. Blind faithers vs rational, free thinkers

[ItNerd4life]

52. Consider the old saying, 'If you're young and not liberal

you don't have a heart. If you are older and aren't a conservative, you don't have a brain'.

The core beliefs of conservatism does have merit and value:
The purpose of the bill of rights is to protect us from the government. (what this country was founded upon)
Personal responsibility and choices are what decide a persons future.
The smallest minority of all is the minority of one.

The problem with conservatism is that everything is black and white, they don't like gray.
The government is needed to protect people from the powerful (which can be gained by wealth in a capatilistic society)
What if the person is born into a bad situation and doesn't get the foundation they need to make good choices?
The believe people have rights as long as they are in sync with Christian beliefs.

It's very interesting to talk to conservatives if you take the emotional and personal attacks out of the conversation.

[tjwash]

53. "If you are older and aren't a conservative, you don't have a brain"

Uh...yeah.

Was that saying coined before or after that very old, and VERY liberal Albert Einstein won the Nobel prize in physics? ;)

[jeffrey_X]

55. Having the capactity to truly share someone else's perspective or world view

while comprehending and respecting it.

[ms liberty]

56. Conservatives...

Conservatives believe you should free the corporations and regulate the people; liberals believe the people should be free and the corporations regulated.

[raccoon]

57. Liberals think deeply; conservatives don't. They react, same as when the doctor taps your knee

with that thingee and your leg jerks.


They seem to think social problems/issues are like math problems; if somebody falls on hard times, it's their own fault. Same as 2 + 2 = 5, I mean 4. (1984 :rofl: ) They've taught themselves to believe problems are real simplistic and have a quick, easy, solution to everyone else's problems.

[chrisa]

58. The idea that there's a "good" side and a "bad" side is ridiculous

and overly simplistic. Both sides have good ideas and bad ideas.

[seabeyond]

59. some are micro, some are macro. looking at the whole we see the health of whole

allows benefits for the individual. those that are micro and focus is narrow see only themselves.... their health is contributing to health of whole.

different ways of seeing and i have found that it is innate, part of character. some people are, some people arent and some people have a little of both

health i mean in all mean. not just physical health. i am macro. have a tough time with micro. this is an example