Benen on Liberalism vs Conservatism.

Post #331,887 by Another Scott 8/26/10 8:01:58 AM Reply	Benen on Liberalism vs Conservatism. http://www.washingto...010_08/025376.php A good summary, but I think he doesn't have it quite right. It's not a "smaller government good" vs not "smaller government good" battle. Instead, I think most public "conservatives" are more interested in talking points and orthodoxy which approaches religious fervor. Most public "liberals" are more interested in evidence, learning from history, and applying those lessons to make the future better. One can't expect to win an argument about religious beliefs. That's why so many arguments with public "conservatives" don't go anywhere. Evidence from the real world is suspect when it contradicts their orthodoxy. Voodoo Economics won and poisoned the brains of the "conservative" establishment. On the other hand, people in the real world who tend to vote one way or the other, can sometimes be persuaded to change their views on policy and voting patterns. (E.g. the 2006 and 2008 federal elections.) Those are the people that leaders should be trying to reach. Not convincing Limbaugh that he's wrong or countering his memes - that's a lost cause. His paycheck depends on not changing. FWIW. Cheers, Scott.
Post #331,889 by beepster 8/26/10 9:48:32 AM Reply	Didn't you just "sweeping generalizations" me yesterday? wow. just wow. just to clarify, the fringe is not the middle. Sort of like me saying moveon.org and mike moore are representative liberals. Sure, understanding today's complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head. But...there they are.
Post #331,894 by Another Scott 8/26/10 9:56:01 AM Reply	Yes, I did. I had a few qualifiers in there. ;-)
Post #331,895 by boxley 8/26/10 10:47:41 AM Reply	religious fervor? St Obama ring a bell? Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 55 years. meep
Post #331,898 by mhuber 8/26/10 12:19:03 PM Reply	Every President has his devotees There are people who have un-ironically expressed the opinion that W was the greatest President in our history. I think most of Obama's votes came from people like me, who see him as the better of two far from wonderful options. I wasn't voting for the lesser of two evils, but "St. Obama" is not a reasonably parody of my regard for the man. I'm looking for a B- performance from him. The last President is like the kid in the joke: Kid: "I don't think I deserve an F". Teacher: "Neither do I, but that's the lowest grade I can give." So we get breathless cries of "OMG, he doesn't entirely suck!" And we rave "competent and reasonably smart!" --------------------------------------- I think it's perfectly clear we're in the wrong band. (Tori Amos)
Post #331,919 by jay 8/26/10 9:02:55 PM Reply	Both sides are made up of many small groups Both sides of the Liberal/Conservative split in the US are actually made up of numerous small groups with varying goals with varying degrees of compatibility. Even on something as broad as "small government" there are many views on the right once you go past the sound bite. There are those that take it as an ideological point itself that smaller government is better. There are also those that use it as a cover for their real goal of reducing taxes and/or removing the social safety net. And there are those that chant it as a mantra, even though they support increasing the size of the government when your talking about law enforcement or military spending or something that they will personally profit from. Jay

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