Some central points that make me a liberal, and which undermine a conservative view of economics which may otherwise seem sensible.

There is a fundamental difference between "production" for use, and production for sales. It makes all kinds of difference. Anyone who cares to consider it can see that.

   Programs like welfare may not reliably help the recipients, but then, they were never intended to, they're just a steam release-valve, and have never been anything else. They protect the wealthy from violence, destruction of property and resources. People who complain about their tax dollars going to help these people can't or won't do math. Their dollars go to the wealthy, the pennies they wouldn't bend over to pick up go to the poor.   

Nor for that matter was a jury trial intended to provide accuracy--for that one would obviously use trained professionals. The jury system was intended to prevent government control of the courts, and for that safeguard accuracy is sacrificed. It's rather slow that anyone would be beginning to think twice about that, in my opinion. The death penalty isn't worth the mistakes.

There are fundamental feelings about the world that influence our views of facts and matters of degree, and for me it seems that conservatives must believe in the spirit of a game--some parts of moral life being considered somehow out of bounds--and that view is moreover colored by moral vanity--we "create" jobs, we succeed and deserve as much as we can get, we are a superior kind of person--always to someone, savages, people who don't matter. I was taught in school that a work-ethic and moral rectitude begat American capitalism, pluck! productivity!--but that's a view that ignores, among other matters, resources such as the ground beneath one's feet.