Why do conservatives tend to lack compassion?

[BoberFett]

You forgot to include San Francisco,Silicon valley, Seattle and Austin, Texas.

So extreme wealth for a few Silicon Valley types, most scraping by as middle class in an expensive city (what's the average home price compared to average salary in San Fran?) and poverty for many. How is that any different than the GOP plan?

 

[Lithium381]

Here's the problem....people of your ilk think everyone who is poor is lazy and that is hardly the truth. They could be poor for a variety of reasons which are no fault of their own. I realize they are people who abuse Safety nets,hell we have a frequent poster on this forum who is guilty of this. I don't get where you Rabid Righties think we want everyone to be equal that's a fucking joke but I do think everyone should be able to get a fair shake in life.

there you go with the generalizations . . .

i absolutely do not think that. i grew up with welfare assistance. i know my single parent mom was NOT lazy, she worked her ass off to provide for my brother and I. 20 years later and we've both been through college with degrees and while not rich, are "successful".

my problem with the handouts is that they are applied the wrong way. they ARE given to lazy people who don't work who do hurt the image of welfare in general and many misonceptions are based on that. We should stop giving so much money to poor people if they have kids, we need to encourage them to NOT have kids, not because it's not their right but because it perpetuates the cycle of poverty. Single parents with 4+ kids don't stand a chance of breaking out.

We need to spend MORE money on getting the poor educated and LESS on enabling non-productive behavior. We need to provide day-care so that the single mother can go to job interviews.

i have perspective on this and i'm not your stereotypical conservative

 

[Lithium381]

COULD being the operative. What about the millions of people who PURPOSEFULLY have children they cannot affrord, drop out of high school, abuse drugs.

All of those millions of people are poor because of their choices. And liberals never show any attempt to exclude them. Maybe if they did they would have an easier time get people to swallow their ideology.

they purposefully have children because it means more money every month at the county center . . i don't want to discourage anyone from having kids, but honestly you're not giving those kids a chance if you can barely care for yourself. . . perpetual poverty

 

[BoberFett]

everyone? no. but who says everyone needs to be filthy rich? (other than the libs) what happened to having a decent life and being happy and content? Between my wife and I we file 60k tax return and we're comforatable. i don't need to earn 1 million a year to be happy, but somehow libs think that money = happiness and that everyone deserves to be happy! bleeding heart libs. . .

As a whole I find that "liberals" are more obsessed with money than most conservatives. The average conservative, while often attempting to improve their lot in life, seem pretty content where they're at. But for a lot of "liberals" it seems like money is all they think about. It's not fair that some people have more and others have less. Higher taxes. New government spending. More money. Money money money. For all the griping about conservative greed they do, "liberals" appear to think far more about money.

 

[Lithium381]

As a whole I find that "liberals" are more obsessed with money than most conservatives. The average conservative, while often attempting to improve their lot in life, seem pretty content where they're at. But for a lot of "liberals" it seems like money is all they think about. It's not fair that some people have more and others have less. Higher taxes. New government spending. More money. Money money money. For all the griping about conservative greed they do, "liberals" appear to think far more about money.

a discussion i had with a co-worker when driving back from SF on the topic of liberals, is that liberals = jealous as a broad statement with some truth to it

 

[brandonb]

I'm hardly conservative, but after reading message threads like this, I'm really starting to think that Liberalism is a mental disorder.

 

[werepossum]

Progressives - always willing to donate the shirt off your back to help the needy.

Damn global warming, now it's almost never cold enough to see a progressive with his hands in his own pockets.

 

[Genx87]

So extreme wealth for a few Silicon Valley types, most scraping by as middle class in an expensive city (what's the average home price compared to average salary in San Fran?) and poverty for many. How is that any different than the GOP plan?

It isnt. The ironic thing is the most liberal of locations tend to also be the most segregated by demographic. The wealth disparity is also very high.

 

[Genx87]

As a whole I find that "liberals" are more obsessed with money than most conservatives. The average conservative, while often attempting to improve their lot in life, seem pretty content where they're at. But for a lot of "liberals" it seems like money is all they think about. It's not fair that some people have more and others have less. Higher taxes. New government spending. More money. Money money money. For all the griping about conservative greed they do, "liberals" appear to think far more about money.

I dont want to sound like Moonbeam but probably a self hate thing. Like the homophobic senator or minister who lashes out at gays then blows a dude in a public bathroom. They lash out at greed and money while being greedy and loving money.

 

[Muse]

I think it's kind of axiomatic that the older you get the more conservative you are. Older people tend to be less compassionate, right? "Compassionate conservatism is an oxymoron," I didn't make that up, I'm just regurgitating it.

 

[Lithium381]

Muse - is that why many college kids are liberal, they have wool over their eyes and fail to see what's really going on?

 

[Muse]

I'm hardly conservative, but after reading message threads like this, I'm really starting to think that Liberalism is a mental disorder.

"Liberalism" can mean many different things. Now, somehow the conservatives have given liberalism a bad name. How they did that absolutely mystifies me. But then I live in Berkeley, which may have something to do with that. If I lived in Utah or Oklahoma or Georgia, middle America, whatever, I would probably have a better idea of the semantics of all this. That doesn't mean I'd be a conservative, though. I've always thought it egregious to have your politics determined by selfish motives. Well, if you can't think beyond selfish motivations, you're just narrow minded.

 

[Muse]

Muse - is that why many college kids are liberal, they have wool over their eyes and fail to see what's really going on?

No, I don't think so. The civil rights movement of the 1960's was fueled by activity on college campuses. They were more aware of what was going on in the segregated south than the general public, who for the most part didn't know or didn't want to know.

 

[Ausm]

So extreme wealth for a few Silicon Valley types, most scraping by as middle class in an expensive city (what's the average home price compared to average salary in San Fran?) and poverty for many. How is that any different than the GOP plan?

You want me to start listing conservative shitholes? I think I would run out of bandwidth.

 

[Ausm]

I just posted an example. If you want more go find it yourself. You obviously are capable of opening up a web browser. This msgboard isnt like a liberal's wet dream. No hand holding and coddling here.

Put up or shut up bro...

 

[Lithium381]

You want me to start listing conservative shitholes? I think I would run out of bandwidth.

then how about top 5?

 

[CountZero]

Blame who you want but if i like the idea of people working to take care of themselves. The idea of puling yourself up by your own bootstrap and not expecting the world to take care of what you can do for yourself. In that sense I think in general the repubs better embody this viewpoint.

IM SORRY BUT ITS NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY TO TAKE CARE OF YOU.

You dont have money? Get a job!
You dont have enough money? Get another job
You cant get a good job? You should have studied harder or take some more classes

I guess its cause this is what successful people do that i think its a good idea to follow this model.

As for the the christian slur (poohbear) heres an interesting tidbit you might have overlooked and thats in any type of world crisis such as earthquakes or natural disasters the christian organizations are the first one there to help. These type of organizations give more money to help the needy than any other organization there is. But whether or not you want to take the time to research that or not I dont care. What you should realize is that just because someone calls themself a christian doesn't mean that they are a very good one. I know people who call themselves a man but they definitely aren't a much of one.

You nailed it. Conservatives don't lack compassion they lack empathy. They think they got where they are by hard work and good decisions alone ignoring how much luck and right time right place play a part. They think the overwhelming majority of people in need are lazy when chances are they are actually hard working. They think themselves nearly infallible and those in need as deserving whatever is happening to them without consideration as to why.

The conservative view is that it is better to turn away those with genuine need to spite those that would abuse the system whereas the liberal view is that it is better to help those in need despite those that would abuse the system.

Lastly the hand out vs hand up argument is great on paper but in reality no recent conservative has actually pushed anything like a hand up. They want to cut the hand outs to people they can't empathize with and have zero ideas of how to do a hand up.

 

[Matt1970]

Can you list all the ways the GOP has given people a "hand up"?

This should be good.

It's called creating jobs. NOT Government jobs.

 

[Lithium381]

You nailed it. Conservatives don't lack compassion they lack empathy. They think they got where they are by hard work and good decisions alone ignoring how much luck and right time right place play a part. They think the overwhelming majority of people in need are lazy when chances are they are actually hard working. They think themselves nearly infallible and those in need as deserving whatever is happening to them without consideration as to why.

The conservative view is that it is better to turn away those with genuine need to spite those that would abuse the system whereas the liberal view is that it is better to help those in need despite those that would abuse the system.

Lastly the hand out vs hand up argument is great on paper but in reality no recent conservative has actually pushed anything like a hand up. They want to cut the hand outs to people they can't empathize with and have zero ideas of how to do a hand up.

youre painting with a broad brush there, cousin.

conservatives want to fix the root of the problem, even if it means taking your medicine and it's hard. Liberals want to just put a bandaid on it until next voting season . . wheee!

 

[Lithium381]

It's called creating jobs. NOT Government jobs.

agree.

 

[Paul98]

youre painting with a broad brush there, cousin.

conservatives want to fix the root of the problem, even if it means taking your medicine and it's hard. Liberals want to just put a bandaid on it until next voting season . . wheee!

When are they going to give any sort of rational solution?

 

[CountZero]

youre painting with a broad brush there, cousin.

conservatives want to fix the root of the problem, even if it means taking your medicine and it's hard. Liberals want to just put a bandaid on it until next voting season . . wheee!

I am painting with a broad brush because if you just split people into two camps the brush will have to be broad.

Running with what you said is exactly why partisan politics are such a poison and moderates really are the solution we should be looking for. You can't fix the root of the problem without worrying about the needs here and now and you can't just fix the needs here and now without trying to fix the root of the problem. The very liberal and very conservative both have it wrong but in this political climate being moderate is considered a bad thing.

 

[mchammer187]

Liberal - Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Conservative - Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

You are right, conservatives lack compassion. Trolololol.

You are pretty much right with the liberal quote but

The conservative approach would be more akin to you better learn to teach yourself how to fish our you are SOL and starve for all I care.

Neither ideology embraces the "Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

 

[trenchfoot]

Thanks for starting the thread OP. I now have a condensed version of what the typical conservative mindset is. Quite interesting to say the least.:thumbsup:

 

[Lithium381]

I am painting with a broad brush because if you just split people into two camps the brush will have to be broad.

Running with what you said is exactly why partisan politics are such a poison and moderates really are the solution we should be looking for. You can't fix the root of the problem without worrying about the needs here and now and you can't just fix the needs here and now without trying to fix the root of the problem. The very liberal and very conservative both have it wrong but in this political climate being moderate is considered a bad thing.

i agree that going to either extreme isn't helpful in acheiving any goal but it just feels to me that the moderates are okay with the status-quo in that they don't want to give more money to the poor "NOW" and they don't want to take the time to fix the "ROOT PROBLEM" either . . . in the long term the ROOT of the problem makes more sense to me which is why i tend to lean right, but that's a common problem with people.. .. .. looking down the road instead of what is great RIGHT NOW.