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For liberals, morality derives mostly from fairness and prevention of harm. How very neutral! I often forget how pro-unfairness, and pro-harm conservatives are
by byrneseyeview 17y ago
For liberals, morality derives mostly from fairness and prevention of harm.
How very neutral! I often forget how pro-unfairness, and pro-harm conservatives are! I think a better way to understand it is that conservatives are political Darwinists, who believe in gradual adaptation to circumstances, undertaken at different rates by different groups. Liberals are political creationists, who hope to dissolve traditions and create a better society. It's a question of means, not ends: conservatives would probably argue that expropriating wealth someone has earned in order to give it to a third party is both unfair and an infliction of harm, whereas letting people keep what they make, and protecting them from criminals, is both fair and anti-harm.
- olefoo 17y agoActually, the current definitions of liberal and conservative: Liberals: think it's OK to spend your money on government programs they hope will be useful. Conservatives: think it's OK to give your money to rich bankers so long as there are no strings attached. Entrepreneurs: think it's OK if you spend your money with them.
- icey 17y agoThis is why we can't have nice things.
- yummyfajitas 17y agoThe fact that you threw the word "entrepreneurs" in there makes this an HN-worthy comment.
- olefoo 17y agoI was actually trying to make a point about how the one-dimensional nature of most political discourse (Us!, Them!!) ignores most of the complexity that actually matters. And also acknowledge the reality that our political structures are corrupt, counterproductive and irrational. This may be one of those things you just can't say in polite society.
- philwelch 17y agoGenerally, it's better to phrase that point something like this: "The one dimensional nature of most political discourse (Us!, Them!!) ignores most of the complexity that actually matters. And our political structures are corrupt, counterproductive and irrational." Expecting us to extract that meaning out of some vague witticism was probably your mistake.
- anamax 17y ago> Conservatives: think it's OK to give your money to rich bankers so long as there are no strings attached. The strings weren't attached when the loans were made. Moreover, some of the bankers didn't want to take said loans.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]