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Jens 'n' Frens |
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Jacob Levy has been quoting an article by a liberal about differences between liberals and conservatives. The following reads, to me, as though someone reversed the labels:Liberals think of politics as a means; conservatives as an end. Politics, for liberals, stops at the water's edge; for conservatives, politics never stops. Liberals think of conservatives as potential future allies; conservatives treat liberals as unworthy of recognition. Liberals believe that policies ought to be judged against an independent ideal such as human welfare or the greatest good for the greatest number; conservatives evaluate policies by whether they advance their conservative causes. Liberals instinctively want to dampen passions; conservatives are bent on inflaming them. Liberals think there is a third way between liberalism and conservatism; conservatives believe that anyone who is not a conservative is a liberal. Liberals want to put boundaries on the political by claiming that individuals have certain rights that no government can take away; conservatives argue that in cases of emergency -- conservatives always find cases of emergency -- the reach and capacity of the state cannot be challenged.Now, there's quite a bit of room for disagreement on what the labels "liberal" and "conservative" mean. When I think of a conservative, I'm inclined to think of a small-government type, primarily, I'm sure, because I think "conservative" is a better label for me these days than "liberal", and I'm a small-government kind of guy. But when I see something like this, I question how different someone's world-view has to be from mine in order to come up with that. I'd love to see more examples of what the author is thinking of as "liberal" and "conservative". |
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