why i could never be a conservative

I really shouldn't be taking the time to do this right now, but I just read an article that struck me. It's called "Why I Could Never Be a Liberal" by Matt Lewis. I was really interested to read it, hoping to find a reasoned defense of views I don't necessarily hold. I was disappointed. WARNING/APOLOGY: This is about to get political. ( Read more... )

why i could never be a conservative, redux

So the last entry was a response to someone explaining why they could never be a liberal, and I titled it, as above, "Why I Could Never be a Conservative." I thought I might discuss more directly why that is.

First off, it's not even true. If we take general definitions of "conservative" versus "liberal" as wanting things to stay more like they were versus wanting things to be different, just who is which is context dependent. Conservatives can play a valuable role in society of putting on the brakes, and preventing too much change happening too fast and going too far. That's a good thing. If I was in France in 1790, or Russia in 1920, or China in 1950, I'd probably qualify as a conservative.

But I'm not, and in America in 2013 I'm definitely not a conservative. ( Read more... )