Quote:
Originally Posted by East Coast Okie
What many liberals don't seem to understand is that there are several major paths to conservatism. Some people are morally or culturally conservative as a result of their religion, values or their upbringing. They adopt the conservative platform because it more closely mirrors their values and world view.
Other conservatives hold their beliefs based on a hard eyed assessment of how the world works and life has taught them a lot about unintended consequences. Many of those people, and I count myself as one of them, began as liberal when we were younger and reassessed those views when we discovered that they didn't stand up to what actually happens in the real world.
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Generalizations are fun. It's funny, because I'm a liberal for the very same reason you claim to be a conservative - real world experience. In the real world, most people aren't poor because they're "lazy" and are just living off the government dime, as conservatives like to generalize. Instead, I know that most middle class bankruptcies are due to the unexpected expense of major medical events. Families didn't choose the cancer that struck down their young daughter, bankrupting them so they could afford the outrageously expensive medicine not covered by insurance.
I know in the real world that a lot of people risk everything they have and put enormous effort to start their own businesses that fail, and it must be pretty bad for them to tune in to TV and radio and hear conservative leaders say they're just lazy free-loaders (and instead the trust-fun kids who inherited their money by doing nothing deserve yet another massive tax cut and big corporations deserve yet more corporate welfare).
I know in the real world a lot of people with substance abuse problems aren't Satanic losers who chose their failed path as conservatives like to say, but many have had an extremely traumatic event in their life I could barely understand if I tried (in many cases, as a result of government-forced service in Vietnam). Rather than our scorn they need our help.
I know that in the real world, someone can make the personal choice to occasionally enjoy some marijuana, which in the real world is far less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco, and otherwise have a highly productive and normal life. I know in the real world it's a massive waste of resources and police time to go after and jail such people.
I know in the real world most people who abuse their more vulnerable family are caught in a cycle of violence and were likely once victims themselves. Instead of simply throwing them in jail overnight and forgetting about it we should be finding ways to break the cycle of violence permanently.
I know that in the real world, a rich person can get a team of lawyers and get away with murder (literally or figuratively), while innocent men sit in jail for life (or on death row) because they had a court-assigned sub-standard public defender.
I know from experience in the real world, there's no reason a given atheist or agnostic can't lead a life that's just as moral (or moreso) than a given fundamentalist Christian, despite what conservatives are so quick to generalize.
I know in the real world a young woman can make a mistake and face a terrible choice to abort the baby or go through with the pregnancy and bring a child into the world she cannot care for. I know in the real world that those that take the conservative's advise to "choose life" are often left with little help actually caring for the baby as a poor, young single mother. I know that as a gay man if I try adopting said baby I'm immediately condemned by conservatives who think I'm somehow trying to harm the kid by caring for it.
I know in the real world dozens of gay couples who have been in committed relationships for tens of years, despite the continued claims by conservatives that it's not possible. They are denied legal rights that another man can get without a second thought when he is marrying for the twelfth time. Out here in the real world, I know of a gay couple that has been together for years, but one is here on a student visa that will soon expire expelling him from the country. They cannot get married so the foreign guy can't stay, so my friend will be forced to decide between his country and his partner. On the other hand, my friend could get online and get a mail-order bride he's never met and she'd be granted citizenship with little issue.
I could go on, but I think everyone gets the point.