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Politics : Actual left/right wing discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: koan who wrote (8739)	12/4/2010 4:05:23 PM
From: TimF	3 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10087

Compare Beck, Limbaugh and Palin to Bill Moyers, Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King. Compare Mother Teresa to William Jefferson, Mel Reynolds, and Gus Savage. Moving away from the silly game of cherry picking individuals (which you did for your positive examples of Mandela and King, even if they are really known more for peacefully but forcefully fighting injustice than they are known for "kindness, empathy and compassion" as such, and which I did for both sides of the equation); you think that liberals are kinder because you consider their policies to be kindness. But creating dependency for the poor while grabbing wealth from those who earn it isn't being compassionate or charitable. You can only be charitable with your own money.

To: koan who wrote (8739)	12/4/2010 4:59:48 PM
From: Lane3	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10087

So, what kindness etc. and appreciation for science have in common is nothing more than that they are two of many characteristics that you ascribe to liberals as opposed to conservatives. I see. Being in politics most of my life I have found the conservatives to be much less kind and compassionate than liberals. I think that conservatives get a bum rap on this. I used to have the same impression as you but I have come to learn otherwise. What seems mean spirited isn't necessarily when you get below the surface. Kindness, empathy, and compassion are expressed in different ways. Not wanting to express compassion in one particular way does not necessarily mean that one does not feel compassion. For example, if you feel compassion for a kid that just blew his team's lead, who is more compassionate, the one who smooths over the mistake making the kid feel better or the one who doesn't smooth it over but takes him in hand to coach him to improve his skills. Much of the difference, seems to me, is about the difference between the proverbial giving a man a fish vs teaching him to fish. Another difference, I think, is who has control of the expression of compassion. Does an individual prefer to pay higher taxes and let the government express compassion as it sees fit or does that individual want to pay less in taxes and donate on his own where he can get the best bang for his buck as he sees it? Does one have more compassion than the other? I think not. It seems to me that a good measure of relative compassion is charitable giving. The two people I know first hand who give serious money to charity are liberals, but apparently my personal anecdotes are not typical. Conservatives give the most. charitynavigator.org nytimes.com