What is Conservative?

tecoyah · Nov 5, 2012

According to my understanding, conservatism means attempting to maintain the status quo on a larger scale while leaning things a bit toward those things we learned from the past.

In my opinion, the Democratic platform meets this criteria significantly more accurately than the GOP.

What say you?

myp · Nov 5, 2012

I say the monikers really shouldn't matter- they cause more confusion than anything else. Everyone defines them differently.

tecoyah · Nov 5, 2012

myp said:
I say the monikers really shouldn't matter- they cause more confusion than anything else. Everyone defines them differently.

Yet that little chunk of glass, seems to be the core of our current failure. The Tea Party is far from conservative, as I once knew it. The GOP (claiming to be so), has become an offshoot of this.

I am still Republican....they are not.

tecoyah · Nov 5, 2012

Actually....strike that, I no longer wish to be associated.

myp · Nov 5, 2012

tecoyah said:
Yet that little chunk of glass, seems to be the core of our current failure. The Tea Party is far from conservative, as I once knew it. The GOP (claiming to be so), has become an offshoot of this.

I am still Republican....they are not.

But isn't that the point? Neither your definition of conservatism or theirs is rooted in any objective measure. They are both just subjectively defined and arguing about it basically just boils down to two points: "i'm right" and "no, i'm right". It's a futile endeavor.

tecoyah · Nov 5, 2012

And so....we go back to defining ourselves by what we think...what we wish, and where we wish to be in the future.

myp · Nov 5, 2012

tecoyah said:
And so....we go back to defining ourselves by what we think...what we wish, and where we wish to be in the future.

I stopped with the defining game a while ago. I go by how I and others fall on the issues.

tecoyah · Nov 5, 2012

how can you do so with no definition?

Hammer · Nov 14, 2012

In today's America, both so-called conservatives and so-called liberals want to grow the government. But, a conservative wants military growth to be a priority while a liberal wants welfare growth to be a priority.

=Zoomer= · Nov 14, 2012

People can be classified as liberal or conservative by issue maybe, but not on all issues taken as a whole. I believe that's how one would statistically be classified if everyone were to have an opinion on each and every issue. A bit right of center, center-left, etc.

I don't think the information is particularly useful though (except by politicians seeking to know where their constituents are on the issues). People as individuals probably have no real use for labels like that.

clax · Nov 14, 2012

Conservatism is the idea that government should remain minimal, and not intrusive into the lives of the individual. An ideal lost in both the mainstream parties.

Conservative means conserving of the republic. The democrat party definitely does not represent conservatism. The libertarian party seems to uphold conservatism better than any.

Wendy · Nov 15, 2012

tecoyah said:
According to my understanding, conservatism means attempting to maintain the status quo on a larger scale while leaning things a bit toward those things we learned from the past.

In my opinion, the Democratic platform meets this criteria significantly more accurately than the GOP.

What say you?

You asked what a conservative is, then talk about the GOP platform. Why?
There are conservative Dems as well as conservative GPO & Libertarians.
I am more on par with Conservative Libertarian.
There are liberal GOPers as well. Don't confuse a political party with either conservative or liberal.

tecoyah · Nov 15, 2012

Wendy said:
You asked what a conservative is, then talk about the GOP platform. Why?
There are conservative Dems as well as conservative GPO & Libertarians.
I am more on par with Conservative Libertarian.
There are liberal GOPers as well. Don't confuse a political party with either conservative or liberal.

It seems pretty well established (By the GOP itself), that they are the conservative brand, thus my comment. I think perhaps you have simply restated my point.

Wendy · Nov 15, 2012

tecoyah said:
It seems pretty well established (By the GOP itself), that they are the conservative brand, thus my comment. I think perhaps you have simply restated my point.

So what? I could claim to be a brain surgeon, that doesn't make it true.

tecoyah · Nov 15, 2012

....Bad Day?....

Wendy · Nov 15, 2012

tecoyah said:
....Bad Day?....

Not for me. You?
We have differing opinions, (& that's all we have) your opinion does not cancel out my opinion, nor my opinion does not cancel out yours, & guess what, we have the right to our opinion. Great, yes?

myp · Nov 15, 2012

I will chime in here again.

The Ron Paul brand of the GOP calls itself "conservative". Some "conservative" commentators and historians call them "traditional conservatives or paleoconservatives". The media and a lot of the public likes to call them "libertarians". The founding fathers would likely have called them "liberals" like they considered themselves. Other historians call them "classical liberals" just as they call the founding fathers. The vast majority of humans in history would have probably labeled them as some sort of progressive group, probably broadly put, "liberals". Goldwater would probably have called them real "conservatives". If I remember correctly, Reagan did call Ron Paul "conservative". Some call them "anarchists" due to the ideas of the Austrian school. Some "anarchists" (especially "left anarchists" or "social anarchists" say they are "right anarchists" or "anarchocapitalists". I can keep going...

Do you see my point? These labels don't matter.

Wendy · Nov 15, 2012

myp said:
I will chime in here again.

The Ron Paul brand of the GOP calls itself "conservative". Some "conservative" commentators and historians call them "traditional conservatives or paleoconservatives". The media and a lot of the public likes to call them "libertarians". The founding fathers would likely have called them "liberals" like they considered themselves. Other historians call them "classical liberals" just as they call the founding fathers. The vast majority of humans in history would have probably labeled them some as some sort of progressive group, probably broadly put, "liberals". Goldwater would probably have called them real "conservatives". If I remember correctly, Reagan did call Ron Paul "conservative". Some call them "anarchists" due to the ideas of the Austrian school. Some "anarchists" (especially "left anarchists" or "social anarchists" say they are "right anarchists" or "anarchocapitalists". I can keep going...

Do you see my point? These labels don't matter.

Labels "shouldn't matter" but when they're used as a wedge, a hammer, they do matter. Our politicians use "conservatives/Republicans will throw granny over the cliff, peek in your bedroom, they're racists", or "Liberals/Dems will control us, take our God given rights, our Bibles, our guns". So yes, labels do matter because many, too many do not take the time to look back & see that these wage issues have been used since the beginning.
I will say that with each new admin it seems that we're edging closer to some of those accusations so far as our freedoms go, & it has nothing whatsoever to do with race or ethnicity.

myp · Nov 15, 2012

My take on this, Wendy, is that a goal of political education and intellectual discussion should be in making people realize how silly the labels are. Effectively weaken that "tool" for the politician in these "us vs. them" narratives.

clax · Nov 15, 2012

Wendy said:
Not for me. You?
We have differing opinions, (& that's all we have) your opinion does not cancel out my opinion, nor my opinion does not cancel out yours, & guess what, we have the right to our opinion. Great, yes?

There is no room for those now Wendy, some people may not get to be right, your are no danger of shattering somebody's fragile sense of self.

What is Conservative?

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