aparent wrote:jtat32 wrote:aparent wrote: I am a liberal, not the co-opted version of the term that has come to mean eating vegan and giving handouts, but in the classical sense of believing that people should be free to do whatever the hell they want unless they start adversely affecting others.
It's interesting that you phrase your definition that way - that would be my definition of what conservatism should be in the classic sense.
In a classic sense, conservatism would have us still living under kings, by definition conservatives have always favored the status quo and liberals have pushed for change and more specifically equality and freedom for all. By classical I am talking Enlightenment era stuff here. Somewhere along the lines there was a bit of a switch both in the terminology and in the alignment of parties. it is so fubared now that both parties have liberal (change) and conservative (status quo) wings. I would say that people that favor a very limited government are actually taking a liberal stance because it lends itself to personal freedom and the government has been so overactive for such a long time that it is now the status quo but I think most would characterize this as a conservative principle.
We have a majority of Americans that think they disagree with each other because they differ on 5% of the issues and because they self identify as either CONSERVATIVE or LIBERAL. In reality I think the vast majority of us agree on most things. MOST Americans favor a strong military that is seldom used, MOST Americans think heath care should be easier and less expensive, MOST Americans think we should have the choice of where to send our kids to school and that school should focus on basics like MATH, SCIENCE and ENGLISH, MOST Americans do not want a political system that gives undo access to the wealthy donor class, MOST Americans believe we have a constitutional right to bear arms, MOST Americans think that Employers should not have the ability to hire/fire based on race, religion, or sexual preference. MOST Americans have no problem paying reasonable taxes as long as the money is spent wisely, ALL Americans hate their cable company. The list goes on and on. We get divided up over stupid, fake issues like whether or not a man who thinks he is a woman can used a ladies restroom, or whether or not a man can marry a man, Meanwhile our streets are crumbling, our taxes are outrageous, the middle class is disappearing and a college education is becoming harder and harder to achieve.
We are so f*cked in the head that the term "islamic terrorist" is not used by an entire party because they are so PC brainwashed that they think that any mention of anything that classifies people is somehow dangerous. The same people who can't bring themselves to say Merry Christmas and have to say happy holidays. Then we have a separate group on the other side that wants to tell people who they can love and tell people it is OK to take Ambien but if you take medicinal marijuana you are a druggie.
Guns N Roses had a song a long time back called "one in a million" that kind of describes how I feel, i want the tree hugging, Prius drivers to all disappear and have them closely followed by the holier than thou religious right, maybe when the fringe parts of both parties stop trying to make everyone believe what they believe then the 80% of sensible people in the middle can improve things. But as long as the Dems need the thought police wing to win and the GOP needs the bible thumpers to win then we will always have this screwed up situation.
These are the same people that watch an NBA game and still think white people and black people have the same athletic ability.
I don't know who you are, but I like you already.