How is being a conservative defined?

1. 71

   tsmogposted 8 years ago

   How is being a conservative defined?

   replyreport
2. 47

   Ericdierkerposted 8 years ago

   Tim I sure think I was born on a different continent. When I was a youth I was in the Scouting "conservation" corp. I thought conservative was conserving the gifts that God and nature had bestowed on us. That is the definition of conservative that I am.
   We really only liked progress in medicine when I was growing up. The other progress meant pollution and power lines and getting off the party line that we liked. But times change and I like be pro-active and pro-gressive.
   Really pisses people off that I like both. But I am a conservative but not necessarily a republican. I love eco stuff because it conserves out nature. I like trying real hard not to tax or spend too much because that does not conserve our money. I like conserving/preserving my country so I like defense. I like conserving our neighborhoods so I am pro cop. But I like penalty taxes on luxury addictive type stuff as it preserves our health.
   Conservative -- Someone who conserves.

   replyreport
   1. 71

      tsmogposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Being a former scout I kinda' had the same perspective early in life what a conservative was regard our environment. I associated that to values like money, religion, and gov't, but perhaps was a little naive. Later regard politics I saw more grey.

      replyreport
3. 82

   tamarawilhiteposted 8 years ago

   Conservatives share several traits per Dr. Jordan Peterson:
   * valuing institutions and traditions over new and novel; liberals have a bad habit of assuming new is better (even if old ideas with a new label) as well as not caring if they cause harm by burning everything down to create something new
   * conservatives tend to have stronger moral absolutes, but when you have constant shades of grey, you get Huffington Post arguing that pedophilia is a sexual orientation and Ivy League students who can't condemn female genital mutilation
   * conservatives base morality on rules and moral codes, with the benefit of stability and the rules being known; liberals tend to base morality on feelings, what feels good is good, what feels bad is bad; the downside of this approach is that "moral" is ever changing and varies person to person, and if someone feels like raping and murdering and morality is relative, how do you argue against it from a moral point of view? OK, value of life, but you still get liberals like the OSU professor who empathized with the OSU terrorist instead of his victims.
   * Conservatives see everyone as having agency, while liberals blame systems and see people as helpless victims of it. This goes back to Plato vs Socrates; conservatives say the average person is capable of making all their decisions and should have maximum freedom, while liberals say 90% are stupid and need to be taken care of and told what to do while 10% are a natural elite that should tell everyone what to do - and punish those who don't comply. An independent person is thus a threat to liberals and to be demonized or taken down.

   replyreport
   1. 47

      Ericdierkerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      So get doc. Pete on the horn. Saying what he said she said is kind of lame - a citation would do.  Tamara you need to work on your own head an heart instead of being a parrot of others.
      I reckon that is an insult, not normal to me. But.

      replyreport