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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Lokness who wrote (89764)	10/12/2008 5:55:34 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541790

I don't think you understand what I'm saying. If the human race were unfettered by people who don't like change, we would often (probably) go too far too fast. There is value in incremental change. As an individual I am a change lover, but if I try to step outside of myself, I can see the value in people who hold people like me back from changing things too fast :-) So that's what I'm saying. There is value in ballast, for example. You could just say "It makes a ship heavier and slows it down"- but y'know, sometimes you really need ballast, and sometimes "drag" is a very good thing. And it's impossible to know right now what were the right things to do, and what was wrong- because it will take years and years to see the ramifications of what is happening now. We can only take a stab- but I know that both sides are needed, and that always makes me feel better about being alive in the midst of great controversy. It doesn't make me any more anxious to interact with people who might hate me for my ideas (and more than I want to interact with lions who would eat me because I am meat)- but it gives me great peace of mind to know that most things end up serving some sort of beneficial purpose.

To: Steve Lokness who wrote (89764)	10/21/2008 12:44:36 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541790

The definition of a conservative though is one not inclined to accept change. That's one possible definition, but probably not a good description of the conservative political movement in the US, anymore than "willing to accept any change" is a good description of the liberal political movement. Even ignoring the political movements and ideas, someone who was conservative in a non-ideological sense might be reluctant to accept rapid major changes, without careful consideration, in what he or she sees as an important area. That doesn't exactly equal "reluctance to accept change". Another point to keep in mind is that many Republicans are not particularly conservative in the sense of supporting the conservative ideological movement (to the extent there is one coherent movement to support or not) or conservative in the sense of wanting to carefully consider things before making major changes. Bush for example has thrown out things like a new entitlement program, and the Paulson plan. Going back in the past, Nixon seemed a bit more conservative earlier in his political career, but as president he put in place wage and price controls (which are very far from being conservative by either sense of the word). At best conservatives are a slight majority of the Republican party, and maybe not even that.