If you ask anyone to explain the differences between Republicans and Democrats you usually get a shrug. As my late sainted mother would say, “You could put ‘em both in a brown paper sack, shake it up and you wouldn’t know which one would fall out first.”
Maybe so, but there are profound differences between those that identify themselves as either being a Conservative or a Liberal.
In a nutshell, Conservatives look at America and see the best in her people and assume the worst in her enemies. Liberals look at America and see the worst while seeing the best in her enemies.
That’s the short version, let me expand:
Conservatives believe in letting people keep more of what they earn. Liberals say they won’t spend it wisely.
While debating the Stimulus Bill on the floor of the Senate, John F. Kerry (D-MA) had this to say, “I have heard a lot of talk about we ought to do a tax cut…If you put a tax cut into the hands of either a business or an individual today, there is no guarantee they are going to invest their money…in the United States. They are free to go to invest anywhere they want, if they choose to invest…The fact is none of those people are guaranteed to invest that money in any of the new projects that we are. So government, yes government, has the ability to be able to make a decision that the private sector won’t necessarily make today.”
In other words, they don’t trust you with your money.
Conservatives believe that Americans take care of their fellow Americans privately, through family, through donations and through charitable works. Liberals say that is just too random and Americans are too dumb to know where to put their resources. Says Joel Berg , the executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, “…voluntary private charity is a less equitable way to solve community problems. In America, the government is the most legitimate voice of the entire community.”
Conservatives believe people know what’s best for themselves and that by acting on what’s in their own best interest as individuals and for their families they collectively do what’s good for the nation. As the economist Milton Friedman pointed out no one man can make a pencil, but many acting in their own best interests get the job done.
Liberals say otherwise. By acting in your own self interest you hurt the collective. For instance, when Liberals throw the stat around that 43 million (or more) are without health coverage, they don’t tell you that 8 million of those make between $50-75K per year and another 9 million make over $75K. These people are young, in good health and have chosen to use their money for other things, like a down payment on a house or a new car or even hundreds of other things that their fellow Americans make, sell or grow. Instead, Liberals denigrate them and call them “free riders,” greedy people who must be forced to contribute to everyone else’s care.
In foreign policy, Conservatives believe in advancing the cause of freedom. Liberals will tell you that they are more realistic and pragmatic. In the early 1980’s they told Ronald Reagan that the Soviet Union was going to be around forever so deal with it. They also said that his vision of freedom for Eastern Europe was a pipe dream. They called their foreign policy, “Realpolitik.”
But when the Soviet Union fell they had to rewrite the history and said it was all inevitable or that it was all Mikhail Gorbachev’s doing. (Somehow the Liberals can’t quite explain why the Eastern Europeans have streets honoring the Gipper – 4 in Poland alone – and not for Gorby.)
Conservatives believe that you can’t negotiate with people whose opening line is that America and Israel must cease to exist. All Liberals will say is that Obama will charm the birds from the trees and all will be well, that all we have to do is put a “process” in place and that magically the Islamists will accept Israel, fall in love with Western ideals and peace shall reign for ever and ever, Amen.
If you ask a Conservative to define America they will describe the freest, most generous and least oppressive superpower the world has ever known. In the last 100 years we have fought and died in Europe, in Asia, in the Middle East and island by island in the Pacific. But not only did the vanquished keep their countries, we rebuilt them and turned our enemies into allies and war-ravished lands into economic powerhouses.
Liberals cling to the images of a 19th Century America and they see a land of racists, misogynists, and imperialistic hubris. If Conservatives are guilty of rose-colored glasses, the liberals look through ones that are fiery red with anger and inner hatred.
Unfortunately for us, it’s the Liberals day to rule. We have to sharpen our message and pray that 2010 comes awfully fast.
