How would 'YOU' define 'conservative'?

Subject: RE: How would 'YOU' define 'conservative'?
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 05:42 AM

I suppose I would call anyone to the right of me a conservative. It is like the old triplet joke: I am cautious, you are conservative,he is a fascist.
RtS

Subject: RE: How would 'YOU' define 'conservative'?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 05:03 AM

A conservative is someone who is minded to conserve the status quo. That sounds harmless but it is the corollaries which start to bite so that the final result is that a conservative wishes tohelp the rich oppress the poor so that the rich stay rich and get richer and the poor get poorer, and injustice can be visited by the rich on the poor simply because of the power of the status quo.

Why so you think Margaret Thatcher caused and aggravated the UK recession? Why so that the workers could not get thier just desserts from her capitalist friends! TO compel labour to march to her diktat.

And if that makes me sound like a Marxist - well I started off pretty right wing at 14 - I even believed that some people were better able to form an intelligetn view than others and so deserved more votes! - and now I'm 52 I've seen a thing or two and I know tha tthe only reason that capitalism stick together is that the workers go unrequited for a part of thier labour. I've been an employer, I've been an employee, now I try to do everything myself with a computer. THat way, no class war.

Subject: RE: How would 'YOU' define 'conservative'?
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 04:50 AM

Whoops, hit the wrong button, while doing the clever HTML bits....;)

"If you have a firmly fixed position" you are Conservative either on the "Left" or "Right"

Martial music fades Left, or Right...;)

Callie, the first "free-thinker" I ever talked with was wonderfully "over-zealous" - he was involved with a race between a piano and a dinghy, across the mountains on the Milford Track in NZ in the 30s. But, you are correct - be "small-minded" and you can't "free-think".

Liberal? walk that tightrope, teeter from one side to the other, but try to keep in balance. Respect others' viewpoints, but try not to slip with one leg either side of the fence. I did, when I was 8 (balls just dropping) - I "flaked" and probably still haven't recovered....;)

Cheers - Sam

Subject: RE: How would 'YOU' define 'conservative'?
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 04:26 AM

Rick,

Like you, I sang anti-CP songs in the 60s. At that time, I could have probably named every person murdered in NZ in the past decade. Now, I wouldn't even have a clue how many have been murdered this year, let alone their names.

Like you, I now wonder about the Psychopaths" (hate using that word) who are incarcerated for maybe 15 years, set out into society, and kill again within weeks.

This may sound frivilous, but, here are my definitions.

Conservative = One who drives on the right side of the road in the USA/Canada/Europe, and on the left side of the road in Japan/UK?Aust/NZ.

[Aside] - All "Right thinkin' lefties" know "The left side of the road is the 'right' side, and the right side is the 'wrong' side"..;)

Liberal = One who drives fair up the white line in the middle of the road, no matter where in the world. And manages to avoid traffic from BOTH directions. Either by "skill", or "chance"

I'm a "wartime baby" (1943) and grew up with "Ban-the-bomb", Korea, Cold War, Malaysia, Vietnam, "environment" etc....

I've just deleted a zillionteethree "yellow legal pages" of waffle, and had a "Marmite" sandwich.....

If you're "all over the map", Rick, you are Liberal - if you are "all over the road", you still are (hopefully not drunk). If you have a firmly fixed position (either to left or right)

I like to think us 60s "Liberals", tried to steer the middle course, between the "Left/Right, Left/Right..."

• Martial Marching Music fades off to..

Subject: RE: How would 'YOU' define 'conservative'?
From: Callie
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 03:39 AM

The thing I find intersting about a lot of "open-minded"/"free-thinking" people I know and love is that they are very small-minded when it comes to people who hold more conservative beliefs. So although they will support causes for social struggle in all sorts of sphere of human endeavour, they will ridicule people who are, say, religious.

The verdict: I think even the most free-minded and intelligent people need to be careful about not becoming so over-zealous that more conservative people are left out of their equation.

I hope I'm making sense. It's the end of a long work day.

--Callie

Subject: RE: How would 'YOU' define 'conservative'?
From: DougR
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 02:07 AM

Rick: As I said in the previous Thread you mentioned, I consider myself a Conservative and I am a member of the Republican Party. My remarks must be limited to the U.S. of course and reflect only what I believe not necessarily what I think everybody should believe. I believe that government should answer to the people, not the other way around; that government should be only as large as necessary to function as the Founding Fathers intended it to based on the U.S. Constitution; that the people should not look to the government to solve all their problems; that decisions affecting the health and welfare of the people can better be decided at the State level rather than at the Federal level; that the U.S. should have a strong defense; that term limits for politicians is desirable; that the government should live within its means; that we should respect the views of those who don't agree with us. I support the death penalty and do not support gun control or gun registration, but I do not believe the citizens have any need for automatic weapons. I could probably elaborate more if I gave it more thought.

DougR

Subject: RE: How would 'YOU' define 'conservative'?
From: GUEST,No 2
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 01:57 AM

Personally, I think that anybody who makes less than $500,000 per year should be sent to jail and executed.

Subject: RE: How would 'YOU' define 'conservative'?
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 01:51 AM

I would say I am fairly liberal when it comes to believing in a strong safety net, care for the aged, good public housing, etc. I am an arch-conservative when it comes to believing that people receiving such benefits, and that includes most of us in one form or another, had damn well better behave themselves while receiving it...such as if they live in public housing they had better not use drugs, destroy the property, invite unsavory characters over or intimidate other tenants. Not a compassionate conservative by any means. More of a kick-ass liberal. mg

Subject: RE: How would 'YOU' define 'conservative'?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 12:57 AM

I think conservatives prefer to define this for themselves, to the nth degree, and that's enuff definition for me.

~S~

Subject: RE: How would 'YOU' define 'conservative'?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 12:53 AM

Don't mean to monopolize...but one area where I sense quite a change in my views is capital punishment. When I was 20 and singing Phil Ochs' "Iron Lady", I would have been VERY anti- C.P. but now (I guess from reading about so many plea-bargained and loop-holed trial verdicts) I'm pretty ambivalent about violent criminals being "done in" by the State. Guess I've lost the desire to believe that ALL life is sacred. Just too many horror stories....and I guess that gives me a pretty "conservative" slant in that area.

Rick

Subject: How would 'YOU' define 'conservative'?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 12:45 AM

I thought about this while perusing the "Folk songs for Conservatives" thread.

The words "conservative and liberal" are often thrown out to describe someone's political viewpoint, but it has occured to me that I personally know very few folks who would fit either description consistently. Many of my "political" friends would be pretty liberal socially, but fiscally quite conservative, and there are some (like me) who are all over the map...with seemingly very contradictory views on issues that some see as related.

Of course in Canada we have the "Liberal" party and the (Progressive) "Conservative" party, which many think are idealogically very close. The New Democrats and Canadian Alliance parties in theory represent the farther "Left" and "right", but are still very mainstream when compared to the splits in most other countries.

I'm just curious how Mudcatters would define "conservative" and "liberal" as it applies to them personally. Certainly in the 60s many "folkies" were quite liberal, but most that I know of have tempered a lot of their views as they got older. Any thoughts?

Rick