Friday, February 15, 2008

debates

I have been in somewhat of a debate on another blog. I'm not a very eloquent writer, and by far not an eloquent speaker. So I have been very choppy at making my points. Tell me what your views are.
I went to another blog in which a person was seemingly upset that so many people were saying McCain was not a conservative. So, then, They went on about how people seem to have forgotten what conservative and republican mean.
My first thoughts were I can tell you why people are upset with McCain. Then, I went off on how I may not be correct on my definitions, but this is why I won't vote for him.
This other person then pointed out that I managed to go off on a tangent and not hit the subject discussed in the article. (also thinking that I belittled a prominent democrat that won a Nobel Peace Prize, just because I said that maybe If McCain helped cut down our greenhouse gases while reducing our dependence on foreign oil by imposing more restrictive and constricting government regulations on our free market he could win one too. I think He could. How is that belittling?) They also said that we need to move away from opposing political views and have more honest political discussion.
Now is when I realize I have to make my point more clearly. So this is the essence of what I said:
By definition a liberal is someone who believes in change and advancement. Politically that would be by incorporating social programs and controls on industry and redistribution of wealth and things of that nature. A conservative is against change or wants very slow change. In other words they want to stick to the original forms like upholding the constitution and they are viewed more as fuddy duddies. These terms are so relative it is impossible to put anyone in either category and be 100% accurate. For example, our founding fathers were ultra liberal for there day. But today if you hold to the exact same things they did you would be very conservative.
So, now lets look at some others. There were a few other liberals not too long ago. One of them enacted some social programs and totally rebuilt Germany in such a good way that he was named Time magazines Man Of The Year.(I guess an award doesn't really mean you are a good guy). There were also a few guys that believed in social programs and whatnot and they incorporated them in Russia. (then people were trying to flee the country) But all those were Liberals, by actual definition.
How about conservatives? You may have heard of this conservative group in Afghanistan that were so conservative that they wanted to hold so tightly to their views that they imposed very harsh restrictions and punishment on their people even down to the clothes the wear. Yeah, they are conservative.
So which do I oppose, conservative or liberal? Like I mentioned before, they are relative terms. It all depends on the setting.
As for the everyone just getting along and agreeing, that is unhealthy. The apposing views help advance the country while keeping one another in check.

So what are your views? Let me know what you think.

6 comments:

Abbi said...

Terms do make it confusing! Especially when in some ways we do want to be liberal, like in our love and our giving. But "The Liberals" want our government to be Liberal too, they want to ability to be liberal with what actually belongs to someone else.
When I think of consevative I think of being careful. That doesn't mean that we won't accomplish something, we will just think it through first. Also we will hold on to what is good, not just wanting change for the sake of change.

There are so many things that I think would be fun to write about concerning politics but I struggle with being very articulate and could truly get whipped in a debate. I guess I will leave that kind of thing to Ken.

Earl Larson said...

I am not very articulate either, but there are so many things that need written about. Why not write about it?

Bob said...

I think that blogs are opening the door to a lot healthy discussions on these topics.

I don't necessarily think that opposing opinions are always good things. However I do think that it is bad to repress ideas and not discuss them. One of the best things about our government is all the checks and balances it has to allow various branches to have different views.(I'm babbling a little.)

Abbi said...

You are right. I guess we need to just do the best we can.

Earl Larson said...

You are absolutely right Bob. Opposing views are not always healthy but in the context I was using it they are. Not that they have to be opposing views but definitely different. Much like the phrase "two heads are better than one". Why do they say that? Because the larger your pool of thought to choose from the better. Sure there are a few things that I wish people wouldn't oppose, but that comes with the varying opinions.

Bob said...

Whoever came up with the saying "two heads are better than one" definitely wasn't a Siamese Twin.

But I hear you.