Misconceptions about liberals and conservatives

[RightIsWrong]

I'm tired of reading over and over what I know are outrageous fabrications of what a liberal is (being a social liberal and a fiscal conservative personally).

Things that I do not agree with that are spouted by social conservatives when trying to discredit liberals:

1. Liberals are socialists - my personal take is that liberals want the government to provide for basic services (healthcare comes to mind) but to stay out of the way of almost everything else (regulation of industry != govt. provide all services in said industry)

2. Liberals are anti- (insert whatever offended religion applies here) - a great deal of liberals are religious and the notion that liberals are primarily atheistic is utter horseshit. According to the latest study on religion, 1.6% claim to be Atheist and only another 2.4% claim to be agnostic while a staggering 78.4% of Americans claim to be Christian of some sort. Now, considering that the country is about 50/50 liberal and conservative.....you can see that it just doesn't add up.

3. Liberals want higher taxes - Do you know how stupid you sound when you try to make this argument? Liberals want zero taxes but aren't delusional enough to think that the highway fairway will magically appear and fix potholes. So there needs to be a minimal tax for that. We don't think that the Ghost of Generals Past will come and arm the military. There needs to be a tax for that. Get the point?

4. Liberals hate the military - Another stupid supposition. Liberals hate the use of the military in ways that are not for self defense. Liberals hate the military buildup during times of peace. Liberals serve voluntarily in the military just like conservatives. Try to remember that.

5. Liberals want to grab your guns - Puh-lease. I don't give a shit if you own a gun or ten. What I care about is that if you do own one....you know how to use it and you are responsible for it. How about this for a solution to all of the gun arguments? You can obtain any gun you want any time that you want and the only requirement is that it is registered. Now the catch. ANY crime committed that is traced back to a gun registered in your name....you are liable for the crime. If you committed it, criminal liability. If you didn't but were irresponsible in the storage of your gun...civil liability.

6. Liberals are all BAFs (Blame America First) - I know that this is a simple concept that is incredibly hard for some conservatives to grasp, but you actually can point out faults of something/someone but still love and respect them. Say you have a child that does something wrong and you are admonishing the child. You are recognizing and addressing the problem behavior but you still love the child. Same thing applies when a liberal points out that our foreign policies have cause significant damage to our ability to do certain things. We don't hate America. We love it. That is why we are addressing the problem. So that it can be fixed.

These are just a few off of the top of my head and you can certainly feel free to post conservative stereotypes that are thrown out frequently also. Hopefully we can get to the point where liberals are demonized for the above things and conservatives are demonized for whatever they come up with and we can get to a point where we actually address the underlying issues with this country instead of just resorting to petty name calling and both groups having to watch our glorious country continue the downward spiral to a place neither of us will ever be proud of again.

 

[Nebor]

5. Liberals want to grab your guns - Puh-lease. I don't give a shit if you own a gun or ten. What I care about is that if you do own one....you know how to use it and you are responsible for it. How about this for a solution to all of the gun arguments? You can obtain any gun you want any time that you want and the only requirement is that it is registered. Now the catch. ANY crime committed that is traced back to a gun registered in your name....you are liable for the crime. If you committed it, criminal liability. If you didn't but were irresponsible in the storage of your gun...civil liability.

Registration leads to confiscation. 100% of the time. Feel free to point out a nation where that isn't (or wasn't) true.

It's the only purpose of registration. The system as it stands now, without registration (in most states) allows for guns to be traced back to their source. Registration, "shell casing verification," and microstamping are very very rarely used to actually solve a crime. IIRC the couple states in the Northeast that mandated a fired case come with every gun and be turned over to the state police to be placed in a database... has never solved a single crime. But it has cost a lot of money.

 

[JS80]

Healthcare is a basic service?

 

[Vic]

IOW, there is an essential difference between liberals and leftists, and 90% of the most outspoken "liberals" (especially on the internet) are actually leftists.

This difference is BTW eerily similar to that between conservatives and neocons.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: Nebor

5. Liberals want to grab your guns - Puh-lease. I don't give a shit if you own a gun or ten. What I care about is that if you do own one....you know how to use it and you are responsible for it. How about this for a solution to all of the gun arguments? You can obtain any gun you want any time that you want and the only requirement is that it is registered. Now the catch. ANY crime committed that is traced back to a gun registered in your name....you are liable for the crime. If you committed it, criminal liability. If you didn't but were irresponsible in the storage of your gun...civil liability.

Registration leads to confiscation. 100% of the time. Feel free to point out a nation where that isn't (or wasn't) true.

It's the only purpose of registration. The system as it stands now, without registration (in most states) allows for guns to be traced back to their source. Registration, "shell casing verification," and microstamping are very very rarely used to actually solve a crime. IIRC the couple states in the Northeast that mandated a fired case come with every gun and be turned over to the state police to be placed in a database... has never solved a single crime. But it has cost a lot of money.

This thread will now be about guns.

Other aspects of government are entirely unimportant. In fact, I would sleep in a government mandated cage every night, as long as I could bring my gun with me.

 

[QuantumPion]

You mispelled "libertarian" multiple times. You might want to use a spellchecker next time.






In all seriousness, liberals haven't espoused the values you listed since the 60's. The Democrat party has been hijacked by the socialists.

 

[piasabird]

Christian Right - What in hell does this mean? Does it imply that christians are bad people or that you just hate christians. I dont understand this fear of religion. Are there not enough things in this world to hate?

Lots of liberals go to church. Are you tellin us they are all just pretend christian liberals?

Why do liberal claim to be against the military, then when something happens they want the Military or the Government to be responsible for them. We were suppose to have stopped Bin-Ladin, but not have a military at the same time. They they complained we did not have enough troops on the ground, but dont dare expand the size of the military.

How come the Democrats pander to the most liberal of the liberals when running for election? Do liberals have any common sense and sense or dignity?

Why was it the federal government's fault that Katrina Victims could not get any help? What was the Governor of Louisiana Doing? How come things work much better in Florida? Are people in Louisiana just not that bright or what?

 

[Mursilis]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
3. Liberals want higher taxes - Do you know how stupid you sound when you try to make this argument?

You say that, but then you say:

Liberals want zero taxes but aren't delusional enough to think that the highway fairway will magically appear and fix potholes. So there needs to be a minimal tax for that. We don't think that the Ghost of Generals Past will come and arm the military. There needs to be a tax for that. Get the point?

Isn't it true to say that generally speaking, liberals support gov't spending in areas such as healthcare which conservatives (true conservatives, not GWB pseudo-conservatives, who spend like drunken sailors) do not? And doesn't it cost more for gov't to be involved in these areas, vs. a conservative/libertarian view of minimalist gov't (not that we'll ever see that)? So logically, liberalism requires either higher revenues or higher borrowing, doesn't it? I don't think it's the slightest bit partisan to say that liberals generally support a theory of gov't which provides more services, but would obviously cost more, whereas conservatives envision gov't costing less, but also doing less.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Vic
IOW, there is an essential difference between liberals and leftists, and 90% of the most outspoken "liberals" (especially on the internet) are actually leftists.

This difference is BTW eerily similar to that between conservatives and neocons.

:thumbsup: on both counts.

 

[RightIsWrong]

Very good point. I would counter that a healthier workforce would be a more productive workforce and require less time off. Also, the savings on companies that are no longer required to pay benefit dollars could be added to the bottom line in the form of higher profits which would create additional revenue to provide the services.

I do agree that the services that liberals would like to provide do have associated costs with them. I feel however that the costs associated with corporate welfare benefits and other loop holes in the tax code that are being used to shelter revenue (personal and corporate) could be re-worked also to offset the costs of some of the programs. As for non-basic services that people would want, PAYGO or NO-GO.

 

[RightIsWrong]

Originally posted by: bamacre

Originally posted by: Vic
IOW, there is an essential difference between liberals and leftists, and 90% of the most outspoken "liberals" (especially on the internet) are actually leftists.

This difference is BTW eerily similar to that between conservatives and neocons.

:thumbsup: on both counts.

I agree with the post as well. One of the reasons/justifications for my OP was to get this nonsense out of the way so that we can really begin a dialogue that would be helpful to our future instead of cycling through the same bullshit arguments that resort to petty name calling.

That is why I also invited anyone that considers them self a conservative to compile a similar list of crap that they are inundated with from the left that drives them equally as batty and is as equally disruptive to the whole problem solving process.

 

[Bird222]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
6. Liberals are all BAFs (Blame America First) - I know that this is a simple concept that is incredibly hard for some conservatives to grasp, but you actually can point out faults of something/someone but still love and respect them. Say you have a child that does something wrong and you are admonishing the child. You are recognizing and addressing the problem behavior but you still love the child. Same thing applies when a liberal points out that our foreign policies have cause significant damage to our ability to do certain things. We don't hate America. We love it. That is why we are addressing the problem. So that it can be fixed.

Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but
grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of
righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Maybe some of the religious right could understand that. Protesting isn't un-American, it is very American.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Now the catch. ANY crime committed that is traced back to a gun registered in your name....you are liable for the crime. If you committed it, criminal liability. If you didn't but were irresponsible in the storage of your gun...civil liability.

Ummm... no. Who defines irresponsibility? If my house is locked and someone breaks ina and steals my gun from under my bed is that being irresponsible on my part?

I think I'd draw the responsibility line at allowing my crack-head second cousin in-law to borrow my gun because he wants to talk to his ex-gf's new boyfriend...

Liberals want higher taxes - Do you know how stupid you sound when you try to make this argument? Liberals want zero taxes but aren't delusional enough to think that the highway fairway will magically appear and fix potholes. So there needs to be a minimal tax for that. We don't think that the Ghost of Generals Past will come and arm the military. There needs to be a tax for that. Get the point?

:laugh:

Then why do they keep raising taxes instead of cutting spending? You're only interested in providing basic services right? So why not get all your liberal friends to team up with all my conservative friends and we'll truly cut the budget down to 'basic' and save everyone a TON of money in taxes!

But... that'll never happen so there's always going to be a tax for "that" whatever "that" is. This gets back to your 'basic services' premise witch is false. Libs will never be happy with only providing basic services. They always have to go way past that point. (Case in point - you cited socialized medicine in your OP) And don't tell me about republicans... the republican party isn't conservative anymore.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
I'm tired of reading over and over what I know are outrageous fabrications of what a liberal is (being a social liberal and a fiscal conservative personally).

Labels inherently work this way. Same thing for conservatives.

E.g., I'm a conservative but oppose the War on Drugs. How can one be conservative but then advocate having the government intrude into my personal life? What people consume is their personal business.

From my experience most Americans really don't neatly fit into either "box". We're all some sort of eclectic combinations of differently held views and the terms "Liberal" or "conservative" have become so distorted as to lose their original meaning.

Ha, I always thought it odd tha conservatives (resistant to change) supported nuke power and liberals (embrace change) didn't. And environmental conservation was a liberal cause and not a conservative one.

Fern

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy

Liberals want higher taxes - Do you know how stupid you sound when you try to make this argument? Liberals want zero taxes but aren't delusional enough to think that the highway fairway will magically appear and fix potholes. So there needs to be a minimal tax for that. We don't think that the Ghost of Generals Past will come and arm the military. There needs to be a tax for that. Get the point?

:laugh:

Then why do they keep raising taxes instead of cutting spending? You're only interested in providing basic services right? So why not get all your liberal friends to team up with all my conservative friends and we'll truly cut the budget down to 'basic' and save everyone a TON of money in taxes!

But... that'll never happen so there's always going to be a tax for "that" whatever "that" is. This gets back to your 'basic services' premise witch is false. Libs will never be happy with only providing basic services. They always have to go way past that point. (Case in point - you cited socialized medicine in your OP) And don't tell me about republicans... the republican party isn't conservative anymore.

Exactly. We could cut enough spending to actually get rid of all personal income taxes and be fine.

 

[Craig234]

When a side advocating bad policies wants public support, lying about the other side is a standard propaganda technique.

It's not just in politics. When a company with not so good, overpriced products advertises, I often see them doing it with ads making outrageously false claims about the competition.

For example, take a bad bank who has reasonably short wait times in line. You might see them put up an ad showing some outrageous wait time, usually with a little humor, and claim that the other banks are that bad, and then say bank with them, without really talking about the high prices etc. that have.

The right lies about the left constantly, and many on the right who fall for the lies repeat them thinking they're true. Between the lies, and the ignorance about what policies are good for the nation, and the ideological groups people get caught up in, it's no wonder the political 'debate' is a mess.

 

[Mursilis]

Originally posted by: Fern

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
I'm tired of reading over and over what I know are outrageous fabrications of what a liberal is (being a social liberal and a fiscal conservative personally).

Labels inherently work this way. Same thing for conservatives.

E.g., I'm a conservative but oppose the War on Drugs. How can one be conservative but then advocate having the government intrude into my personal life? What people consume is their personal business.

I think that's called being a libertarian.

From my experience most Americans really don't neatly fit into either "box". We're all some sort of eclectic combinations of differently held views and the terms "Liberal" or "conservative" have become so distorted as to lose their original meaning.

That's because most Americans don't think too hard about the subject, and don't have what I consider a unified theory or philosopy regarding the role of gov't. For example, they'll cheer a politician who states, "I believe the gov't has no right to tell a woman what to do with her body, and therefore I support legalized abortion!", but if that politician ended the same sentence with "and therefore I support legalized recreational drug use!", he'd be considered a nut-job. Similarly, they'll bitch and moan about gov't interference in this or that aspect of daily life or the free market (like farmers complaining about pesticide regulation), but those same people will embrace gov't intereference when it's beneficial to them (such as farm subsidies), whether it's justifiable or not. The intellectual inconsistency of the American public is annoying as all get-out.

 

[Atreus21]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
1. Liberals are socialists - my personal take is that liberals want the government to provide for basic services (healthcare comes to mind) but to stay out of the way of almost everything else (regulation of industry != govt. provide all services in said industry)

Health care isn't a basic service any more than housing is. We've no right to be healthy. We have the right to pursue it.

2. Liberals are anti- (insert whatever offended religion applies here) - a great deal of liberals are religious and the notion that liberals are primarily atheistic is utter horseshit. According to the latest study on religion, 1.6% claim to be Atheist and only another 2.4% claim to be agnostic while a staggering 78.4% of Americans claim to be Christian of some sort. Now, considering that the country is about 50/50 liberal and conservative.....you can see that it just doesn't add up.

Liberals might not all be atheists, but atheists, I find, tend to be liberal-minded. If the conservatives are applying stereotypes that liberals are anti-religion, it's no worse than liberals applying the stereotype that all preists are pedophiles.

3. Liberals want higher taxes - Do you know how stupid you sound when you try to make this argument? Liberals want zero taxes but aren't delusional enough to think that the highway fairway will magically appear and fix potholes. So there needs to be a minimal tax for that. We don't think that the Ghost of Generals Past will come and arm the military. There needs to be a tax for that. Get the point?

Whether they want taxes or not, liberals fight tooth and nail against seemingly every tax cut, for the reason that they inevitably "favor the rich." It's no surprise that people equate liberals with high taxation.

4. Liberals hate the military - Another stupid supposition. Liberals hate the use of the military in ways that are not for self defense. Liberals hate the military buildup during times of peace. Liberals serve voluntarily in the military just like conservatives. Try to remember that.

Tell this to the Berkeley retards.

Liberals tend to see any use of military power, at least by the United States, as an abuse of power. They seem to think that, since we can never be sure that we're right, we must never be at risk for being wrong, especially when lives are at stake. This is a crippling attitude. A leader is someone who is unafraid to make big decisions with limited knowledge.

5. Liberals want to grab your guns - Puh-lease. I don't give a shit if you own a gun or ten. What I care about is that if you do own one....you know how to use it and you are responsible for it. How about this for a solution to all of the gun arguments? You can obtain any gun you want any time that you want and the only requirement is that it is registered. Now the catch. ANY crime committed that is traced back to a gun registered in your name....you are liable for the crime. If you committed it, criminal liability. If you didn't but were irresponsible in the storage of your gun...civil liability.

Agreed.

6. Liberals are all BAFs (Blame America First) - I know that this is a simple concept that is incredibly hard for some conservatives to grasp, but you actually can point out faults of something/someone but still love and respect them. Say you have a child that does something wrong and you are admonishing the child. You are recognizing and addressing the problem behavior but you still love the child. Same thing applies when a liberal points out that our foreign policies have cause significant damage to our ability to do certain things. We don't hate America. We love it. That is why we are addressing the problem. So that it can be fixed.

I very much disagree. You're not just pointing out America's faults. You're pointing out faults with no regard to her virtues, while simultaneously and conveniently ignoring faults of our enemies while promoting their supposed innocence, and that's an unfair approach. When your kid gets into a brawl at school, you support your kid in front of the other parents, and get to the bottom of it when you get home.

These are just a few off of the top of my head and you can certainly feel free to post conservative stereotypes that are thrown out frequently also. Hopefully we can get to the point where liberals are demonized for the above things and conservatives are demonized for whatever they come up with and we can get to a point where we actually address the underlying issues with this country instead of just resorting to petty name calling and both groups having to watch our glorious country continue the downward spiral to a place neither of us will ever be proud of again.

The underlying issues of the country are very different in the eyes of a conservative compared to that of a liberal. Both sides think the other is foolish, and one of the sides thinks so correctly.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy

Now the catch. ANY crime committed that is traced back to a gun registered in your name....you are liable for the crime. If you committed it, criminal liability. If you didn't but were irresponsible in the storage of your gun...civil liability.

Ummm... no. Who defines irresponsibility? If my house is locked and someone breaks ina and steals my gun from under my bed is that being irresponsible on my part?

I think I'd draw the responsibility line at allowing my crack-head second cousin in-law to borrow my gun because he wants to talk to his ex-gf's new boyfriend...

Liberals want higher taxes - Do you know how stupid you sound when you try to make this argument? Liberals want zero taxes but aren't delusional enough to think that the highway fairway will magically appear and fix potholes. So there needs to be a minimal tax for that. We don't think that the Ghost of Generals Past will come and arm the military. There needs to be a tax for that. Get the point?

:laugh:

Then why do they keep raising taxes instead of cutting spending? You're only interested in providing basic services right? So why not get all your liberal friends to team up with all my conservative friends and we'll truly cut the budget down to 'basic' and save everyone a TON of money in taxes!

But... that'll never happen so there's always going to be a tax for "that" whatever "that" is. This gets back to your 'basic services' premise witch is false. Libs will never be happy with only providing basic services. They always have to go way past that point. (Case in point - you cited socialized medicine in your OP) And don't tell me about republicans... the republican party isn't conservative anymore.

Probably because the Cons keep Raising Spending with Borrowed Money. Someone has to do the responsible thing, it seems the Libs are the only one's willing.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: Atreus21
Health care isn't a basic service any more than housing is. We've no right to be healthy. We have the right to pursue it.

I disagree. Employers commonly provide health care as benefits. Few provide housing. The gov't provides health care to the disabled and elderly as well.

Liberals might not all be atheists, but atheists, I find, tend to be liberal-minded. If the conservatives are applying stereotypes that liberals are anti-religion, it's no worse than liberals applying the stereotype that all preists are pedophiles.

Apples & oranges and they are both incorrect statements. Liberals could say all conservatives are evangelical but it wouldn't be any more accurate than your example. FWIW I think the evangelicals are pushing some moderate (R)'s away from their party. I jumped the fence this year for that reason.

Whether they want taxes or not, liberals fight tooth and nail against seemingly every tax cut, for the reason that they inevitably "favor the rich." It's no surprise that people equate liberals with high taxation.

Are you talking about Bush's tax cuts? If so, of course most liberals fight against tax cuts favoring the uber-rich.

Tell this to the Berkeley retards.

Liberals tend to see any use of military power, at least by the United States, as an abuse of power. They seem to think that, since we can never be sure that we're right, we must never be at risk for being wrong, especially when lives are at stake. This is a crippling attitude. A leader is someone who is unafraid to make big decisions with limited knowledge.

That's like saying all animal lovers are PETA. Not all liberals go to Berkeley and are that 'extreme'.

Maybe a leader should be able to make big decisions with limited knowledge but when they discover they were completely fvcking wrong they need to be able to adjust their thinking and correct their error. GWB&Co haven't the capacity to admit error or fault. Period.

I very much disagree. You're not just pointing out America's faults. You're pointing out faults with no regard to her virtues, while simultaneously and conveniently ignoring faults of our enemies while promoting their supposed innocence, and that's an unfair approach. When your kid gets into a brawl at school, you support your kid in front of the other parents, and get to the bottom of it when you get home.

The foreign policy of the current administration has done much damage to world opinion of this country. If you don't think it's deserving of criticism then I don't know what to tell you.

The underlying issues of the country are very different in the eyes of a conservative compared to that of a liberal. Both sides think the other is foolish, and one of the sides thinks so correctly.

Thank you for admitting your foolishness.


Edited for quotes. I really need to use the preview feature.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong

Originally posted by: bamacre

Originally posted by: Vic
IOW, there is an essential difference between liberals and leftists, and 90% of the most outspoken "liberals" (especially on the internet) are actually leftists.

This difference is BTW eerily similar to that between conservatives and neocons.

:thumbsup: on both counts.

I agree with the post as well. One of the reasons/justifications for my OP was to get this nonsense out of the way so that we can really begin a dialogue that would be helpful to our future instead of cycling through the same bullshit arguments that resort to petty name calling.

That is why I also invited anyone that considers them self a conservative to compile a similar list of crap that they are inundated with from the left that drives them equally as batty and is as equally disruptive to the whole problem solving process.

I consider myself a liberal (albeit more to the classical sense).

My takes on your OP:

1. Liberalism and socialism are in fundamental opposition to each other. Liberalism upholds the sanctity of individual rights while socialism reveres the collective. From a purely economic standpoint, this works out that liberalism upholds the inherent rights to property and opportunity, while socialism rejects those and replaces them with the concept of entitlement. For example, liberals believe that everyone should have access to healthcare, socialists believe that everyone should have the exact same healthcare. Conservatives and "liberals" alike often miss this crucial difference.

2. I saw a "Jesus Saves" bumper stick on a Prius just this morning, no kidding. Freedom of belief is an inherent right. As such, the liberal viewpoint is neither for or against religion, just that religion doesn't belong in our laws and our government.

3. It's an old saying of mine that both Democrats and Republicans want bigger government, but that only the Democrats are willing to pay for it. Once upon a time the Republicans were the party of smaller government, but that was once upon a time.

4. More or less correct, although liberals in government were downright woeful and pathetic in doing anything to stop the current debacle in Iraq. Otherwise, the idea that ones "hates" the military because we prefer to keep the troops here at home is akin to the posters here who say I "hate" Hillary because I have chosen to support Obama. No matter what your personal opinion of them might be, both are decisions made from a thorough and logical analysis of the issues and choices, with emotions like hate having nothing to do with it.

5. Guns rights in America is a issue with a deep urban/rural divide, and like liberals, the gun-grabbing crowd tends to be urban. That doesn't make them liberals. I prefer to call these populist types "Urban Authoritarians."

6. "Blame America First" is a straw man for the neoconservative mindset. Liberalism and progressivism are both reformist philosophies, while conservatism is anti-reformist. And a fundamental part of reform and change is to analyze your involvement along with the involvement of all the other parties involved. We all know that America did not "deserve" 9/11, and that we weren't actually at fault, but we still need to be rational and ask the questions, "What did we do wrong? What can we do better?" The kneejerk neocon response is to flip that around as somehow being treason. Its extremist all-or-nothing silliness, but that kind of attitude literally dominates American politics today, sadly enough.

 

[yllus]

Originally posted by: sandorski
Probably because the Cons keep Raising Spending with Borrowed Money. Someone has to do the responsible thing, it seems the Libs are the only one's willing.

HAHA. Man, sometimes the imaginary world you live in really cracks me up.

More like "conservatives" keep raising spending with borrowed money for their pet projects. "Liberals" do the same for theirs. Sadly as a partisan through-and-through you're unable to see this.

Edit: To add quotation marks, since "conservatives" are not conservatives and "liberals" are not liberals.

 

[Corbett]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
I'm tired of reading over and over what I know are outrageous fabrications of what a liberal is (being a social liberal and a fiscal conservative personally).

Things that I do not agree with that are spouted by social conservatives when trying to discredit liberals:

1. Liberals are socialists - my personal take is that liberals want the government to provide for basic services (healthcare comes to mind) but to stay out of the way of almost everything else (regulation of industry != govt. provide all services in said industry)

2. Liberals are anti- (insert whatever offended religion applies here) - a great deal of liberals are religious and the notion that liberals are primarily atheistic is utter horseshit. According to the latest study on religion, 1.6% claim to be Atheist and only another 2.4% claim to be agnostic while a staggering 78.4% of Americans claim to be Christian of some sort. Now, considering that the country is about 50/50 liberal and conservative.....you can see that it just doesn't add up.

3. Liberals want higher taxes - Do you know how stupid you sound when you try to make this argument? Liberals want zero taxes but aren't delusional enough to think that the highway fairway will magically appear and fix potholes. So there needs to be a minimal tax for that. We don't think that the Ghost of Generals Past will come and arm the military. There needs to be a tax for that. Get the point?

4. Liberals hate the military - Another stupid supposition. Liberals hate the use of the military in ways that are not for self defense. Liberals hate the military buildup during times of peace. Liberals serve voluntarily in the military just like conservatives. Try to remember that.

5. Liberals want to grab your guns - Puh-lease. I don't give a shit if you own a gun or ten. What I care about is that if you do own one....you know how to use it and you are responsible for it. How about this for a solution to all of the gun arguments? You can obtain any gun you want any time that you want and the only requirement is that it is registered. Now the catch. ANY crime committed that is traced back to a gun registered in your name....you are liable for the crime. If you committed it, criminal liability. If you didn't but were irresponsible in the storage of your gun...civil liability.

6. Liberals are all BAFs (Blame America First) - I know that this is a simple concept that is incredibly hard for some conservatives to grasp, but you actually can point out faults of something/someone but still love and respect them. Say you have a child that does something wrong and you are admonishing the child. You are recognizing and addressing the problem behavior but you still love the child. Same thing applies when a liberal points out that our foreign policies have cause significant damage to our ability to do certain things. We don't hate America. We love it. That is why we are addressing the problem. So that it can be fixed.

These are just a few off of the top of my head and you can certainly feel free to post conservative stereotypes that are thrown out frequently also. Hopefully we can get to the point where liberals are demonized for the above things and conservatives are demonized for whatever they come up with and we can get to a point where we actually address the underlying issues with this country instead of just resorting to petty name calling and both groups having to watch our glorious country continue the downward spiral to a place neither of us will ever be proud of again.

F- for misleading thread title. Where are the misconceptions about conservatives?

 

[Vic]

A quick note on something I saw in the thread... employers don't provide health insurance because of it's a basic right or service. The purely American tradition came about around WWII as a way for private industry to compete against the unions (many of who were providing their members with health insurance), and because of FDR-era legislation making it a non-taxable form of compensation. No other reason really. Take away those incentives and your employer would stop paying for your health coverage the very next day.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Corbett

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
I'm tired of reading over and over what I know are outrageous fabrications of what a liberal is (being a social liberal and a fiscal conservative personally).

Things that I do not agree with that are spouted by social conservatives when trying to discredit liberals:

1. Liberals are socialists - my personal take is that liberals want the government to provide for basic services (healthcare comes to mind) but to stay out of the way of almost everything else (regulation of industry != govt. provide all services in said industry)

2. Liberals are anti- (insert whatever offended religion applies here) - a great deal of liberals are religious and the notion that liberals are primarily atheistic is utter horseshit. According to the latest study on religion, 1.6% claim to be Atheist and only another 2.4% claim to be agnostic while a staggering 78.4% of Americans claim to be Christian of some sort. Now, considering that the country is about 50/50 liberal and conservative.....you can see that it just doesn't add up.

3. Liberals want higher taxes - Do you know how stupid you sound when you try to make this argument? Liberals want zero taxes but aren't delusional enough to think that the highway fairway will magically appear and fix potholes. So there needs to be a minimal tax for that. We don't think that the Ghost of Generals Past will come and arm the military. There needs to be a tax for that. Get the point?

4. Liberals hate the military - Another stupid supposition. Liberals hate the use of the military in ways that are not for self defense. Liberals hate the military buildup during times of peace. Liberals serve voluntarily in the military just like conservatives. Try to remember that.

5. Liberals want to grab your guns - Puh-lease. I don't give a shit if you own a gun or ten. What I care about is that if you do own one....you know how to use it and you are responsible for it. How about this for a solution to all of the gun arguments? You can obtain any gun you want any time that you want and the only requirement is that it is registered. Now the catch. ANY crime committed that is traced back to a gun registered in your name....you are liable for the crime. If you committed it, criminal liability. If you didn't but were irresponsible in the storage of your gun...civil liability.

6. Liberals are all BAFs (Blame America First) - I know that this is a simple concept that is incredibly hard for some conservatives to grasp, but you actually can point out faults of something/someone but still love and respect them. Say you have a child that does something wrong and you are admonishing the child. You are recognizing and addressing the problem behavior but you still love the child. Same thing applies when a liberal points out that our foreign policies have cause significant damage to our ability to do certain things. We don't hate America. We love it. That is why we are addressing the problem. So that it can be fixed.

These are just a few off of the top of my head and you can certainly feel free to post conservative stereotypes that are thrown out frequently also. Hopefully we can get to the point where liberals are demonized for the above things and conservatives are demonized for whatever they come up with and we can get to a point where we actually address the underlying issues with this country instead of just resorting to petty name calling and both groups having to watch our glorious country continue the downward spiral to a place neither of us will ever be proud of again.

F- for misleading thread title. Where are the misconceptions about conservatives?

Yup. Maybe it should have read:

Misconceptions about liberals and by many conservatives and others.