Can we list some good things about conservatives:

[Mursilis]

And since I have real trouble saying anything nice about conservatives.

Then you're really not that bright. I don't identify with either liberals or conservatives, but it's not that hard to see good motives coming from both sides. A large number of people (a majority?) on both sides only want what they consider to be best for the country, though they differ on what that means exactly.

 

[Bowfinger]

I will start out with loyalty and family values.

I would like a conservative with me in a fox hole because they are faithful to folk on their side.

I also like folk who honor and take care of their family. I do wish however, their families were as large as mine.

It's important to understand two things. First, 'conservatives' are not a homogeneous group. Second, it is critical to recognize that "conservative" and "Republican" are not at all the same. There is overlap, but there's much about the modern RNC in particular that has almost nothing to do with conservatism.

So, that said, here's what I said in another recent thread:

"In times long past, conservatism centered on traditional values like family, community, church, and country. It emphasized conformity, responsibility. respect for authority, and a strong work ethic. It embraced capitalism and making money, but it was within a framework of building one's career or business and supporting one's community."
​

Though there are many good conservatives who still fit this profile, sadly, these are no longer the values of the GOP as a whole.

 

[Steeplerot]

Then you're really not that bright.

Actually, I have yet to hear one justification for conservatism, just the excuse that comparing the two is false and somehow makes you bad.

Why not be honest about conservatism? Scared of the actual results?

This is why conservatives hide behind the false equivalency.

Prove me wrong?

 

[blankslate]

I'm a liberal and I agree with this. It bothers me how many liberals want to change things just for the sake of change. Take the example of the .50 caliber sniper rifle. Even members of my own family have said "who needs a gun like that?" as if that were a valid excuse to ban such a weapon. Now we're down to banning things just because they are not commonly used? wtf? How often does someone rob a store with a $2000 precision rifle? Never. You can talk about how dangerous guns are but this boils down to simple economics. Nobody buys the most expensive gun possible then uses it to steal $200. Almost all gun crime involves small cheap weapons that can be purchased for $500 or less. I like the healthy pessemism conservatives have about most new ideas. They don't jump in with both feet and commit billions of dollars to some project that might be a complete waste of time and money.

This is the thing. Some people shouldn't have access to firearms but merely looking for a criminal record may not be enough.

For example the clocktower sniper in Texas a long time ago back in the 60s(?) turned out to have an agressive brain tumor that may have let to delusions.

An expanded health care system might be able to catch people who become dangerous due to psychological problems that may have roots in physical conditions.

 

[Steeplerot]

It's important to understand two things. First, 'conservatives' are not a homogeneous group.

Hardly. Comparing the two there is FAR more diversity with liberals who consider dissent of the status quo a cornerstone. (a double edged sword!) There is not really a comparison since conservatism literally depends on groupthink to stay on message to stem the tide of the inevitable societal changes.

The foundation yes, all people want/have the same basic ideas of liberties, but conservatives hate this idea, to its core. One group to them is always "privileged" and know better. Be it the rich, the religious, it's always are the ones with more money more power then them who know better. To them "its just the way the world works" like we are animals with no self will.

It says a lot more about ones flaws in personal character/responsibility really.

Also identifying as such is a big sign of schizophrenic/sociopathic disorders. But this is my personal experience. This forum is a hotbed of cognitive dissonance arrogantly fed to working people by the status quo, and whats funny?

They really, really think regardless of the rest of reality they are some self righteous crusaders out to save the world. (not the real world -just the one created by their cult that never even existed) Amazing!

To be a conservative you have to literally choose sides and hedge your bets, on the side of failure and lack of adaptability of civilization to have this sociopath view that everyone are unsocial animals on the take. Nihilism.

History of the whole species literally proves social darwinism is false.

So then what is conservatism about? Upholding a corrupt status quo, and of course being negative so others cannot reach for better beyond their short vision of purposeful self perpetuating failure, humans did not get rid of slavery for ages because of this very same mindset.

 

[Jhhnn]

I think we need to make a distinction between rank & file conservatives & their leadership.

The rank & file are loyal & steadfast to a fault, part of their sense of virtue. They value work & family, and will generally practice what they preach. They save & keep their personal finances in order, when they can. In most respects, they're conformists, not necessarily a bad thing at all.

They respond well to leadership, a double edged deal, and can be led into beliefs that their own sensibilities would never create.

 

[soulcougher73]

Then you're really not that bright. I don't identify with either liberals or conservatives, but it's not that hard to see good motives coming from both sides. A large number of people (a majority?) on both sides only want what they consider to be best for the country, though they differ on what that means exactly.

In my opinion liberals are more apt to consider what is best for the country and conservatives are more concerned what is best for me. Not all fit this stereotype but from my 39 years of life experience i would say that that general rule is pretty accurate. And ive lived in both San Fran area for 18 years and now KC area for 15 years. So ive seen first hand liberal and conservative mind sets play forth around me.

 

[Mursilis]

In my opinion liberals are more apt to consider what is best for the country and conservatives are more concerned what is best for me.

Those are not mutually exclusive. What's best for the country is, first and foremost, not being a burden on it.

 

[Bowfinger]

Hardly. Comparing the two there is FAR more diversity with liberals who consider dissent of the status quo a cornerstone.

I tend to agree there is more diversity on the left than on the right. This depends somewhat on where one draws the lines defining left and right, however.

There is not really a comparison since conservatism literally depends on groupthink to stay on message to stem the tide of the inevitable societal changes.

The foundation yes, all people want/have the same basic ideas of liberties, but conservatives hate this idea, to its core. One group to them is always "privileged" and know better. Be it the rich, the religious, it's always are the ones with more money more power then them who know better. To them "its just the way the world works" like we are animals with no self will.

It says a lot more about ones flaws in personal character/responsibility really.

Also identifying as such is a big sign of schizophrenic/sociopathic disorders. But this is my personal experience.

Nonsense. This is a highly-distorted caricature of conservatism. If you can't be reasonably rational in understanding your opponents, you are just as bad as they are.

This forum is a hotbed of cognitive dissonance arrogantly fed to working people by the status quo, and whats funny?

They really, really think regardless of the rest of reality they are some self righteous crusaders out to save the world. (not the real world -just the one created by their cult that never even existed) Amazing!

In my experience, this forum is not at all representative of real world conservatives. P&N has for whatever reason primarily attracted conservative loons, trolls, and other misfits. There are a very few normal, sane conservatives here, but they are mostly drowned out by their fringe brethren. The conservatives I meet in the real world, on the other hand, are rarely so extreme. Granted, that fringe seems to be growing, especially within the GOP, but they are still a minority of all conservatives.

At least that's my experience here in middle America. Yes, I know some loony conservatives. I have a crazy aunt, addictedto Fox and talk radio, who is just as outraged and ignorant as the worst of the P&N nutters. She is a dramatic exception. I cannot claim with certainty that it's this way everywhere. (Come to think of it she did live on the East Coast most of her adult life, so maybe she's more representative of righties there.)

 

[Steeplerot]

Those are not mutually exclusive. What's best for the country is, first and foremost, not being a burden on it.

If you look anywhere in actual science you will see that all of life is made up of interconnected dependencies.

To see the world as based on parasitical relationships is flawed and not the whole picture.

Thing is when you find a species who kills the host (dead end) it is because something is WRONG.

This is not the natural state of life, as conservatives like to say.

As I said, it says a lot more about yourself to hold this rather shallow view.

Without even the mooching socialist bacteria you host in your small intestine that make you fart you could not digest enough proteins to keep that big fat brain warm enough for the more finer aspects of surviving as a highly developed social creature.

Individual cells in the body you could say are a giant commie plot to keep you one functional biological creature of a much more vast scale.

Why not liberty for white blood cells? Why sit around protecting the other cells? Oh yeah, because its all in the big picture for all to survive.

Do us a favor conservatives, give up your socialist ways, those poor cells have a endless burden supporting those mooching bone cells and other evil ones who never do anything but sit there, give them LIBERTY to be free and independent islands utterly to themselves!

That will work out well.

 

[Bowfinger]

In my opinion liberals are more apt to consider what is best for the country and conservatives are more concerned what is best for me. Not all fit this stereotype but from my 39 years of life experience i would say that that general rule is pretty accurate. And ive lived in both San Fran area for 18 years and now KC area for 15 years. So ive seen first hand liberal and conservative mind sets play forth around me.

Agreed. That was one of my other comments in that same thread, that my issue with the modern Republican party is it has become first and foremost about money and greed. It's the "I got mine so screw everyone else" mentality that has corrupted the party, supplanting traditional conservative values. That doesn't mean those values are gone from America, however. They are simply no longer the direction for the RNC.

 

[EXman]

Yet conservatism is literally the status quo itself, with the elites making the shit up with giant think tanks.

Conservatism is nothing but a made-up fantastyworld to provide corporate PR and teach the common man to work against his own interests -for theirs.

Like usual, the ones who think themselves "rebels" of a society -are but the actual pawns.

Mass media + deregulation = modern tabloid conservatism selling its booty for ratings like a 5 dollar streetwhore.

What was once something related to governing a society is now just another name brand for consumption.

And conservatives damn well know coke rules, because coke TOLD them pepsi is out to destroy the world, thus should never be tasted.

If you ever think outside the box you break the first rule of the cultist mindset. Knowledge is betrayal.

wow did a kid with a GOP t-shirt beat you up in third grade? Take your girl ? Pee in your post toasties?

 

[Smoblikat]

I think you mean conservative morality. Or have you conveniently forgotten all those conservative sex scandals, both gay and straight (and not to mention one involving underage congressional page boys) and also the fact that divorce is much higher in red states (whereas, in my homo sodomizing S&M state of TAXACHUSETTS, our divorce rates are some of the lowest in the nation). Maybe if you conservative morons would follow our lead, the breakdown of the family wouldn't be happening. Again, you guys are fucking retarded.

Evolution is quaint? Yeah, it's only fucking SCIENCE. What has SCIENCE ever done for humanity?

Created bombs and chemicals that kill millions of people. Ever hear of a little thing called the Manhattan project?

 

[Bowfinger]

Created bombs and chemicals that kill millions of people. Ever hear of a little thing called the Manhattan project?

What point are you trying to make? Of course science and technology can be used for bad things, but that's true of everything. Air and water can be destructive as well, but try surviving without them. Indeed, without science and technology, mankind would be nothing more than a fragile ape, well down on the food chain and confined to a few "people" living in a relatively narrow temperate band of the Earth. Science and technology are integral to the ascent of the human species.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Conservatives mean well.

 

[Axon]

I'd rather have a conservative with me in a fight then some wussy, "let's talk this out" liberal.

 

[soulcougher73]

wow did a kid with a GOP t-shirt beat you up in third grade? Take your girl ? Pee in your post toasties?

People are usually known to be uncomfortable with truth when forced to confront it.

Hence your defensive mechanism on display here.