Genre

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Conservatives, Liberals, and the "American Way"

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1

Last November I wrote about the historical meaning of the words "liberal" and "conservative."  Today, despite some apparent confusion, these meanings still seem relevant. 

I wrote then:

The word "liberal" ... comes from the Latin word meaning "free," just as the word "liberty" comes from the Latin for "freedom."  ...[The word] "conservative" comes from the Latin, meaning "to keep intact" or "to guard."

"Liberalism" means a belief in the paramount value of freedom.

...A "Conservative" person ... wants to keep social order, to maintain or restore traditions, and to protect established customs and practices.

And, in November, I added this comment:

...We struggle to find the right balance between the value of the individual's freedom and the value of the social order.  ...Liberals tend to value individual freedom more than Conservatives, and Conservatives tend to place a higher value than Liberals do on maintaining traditional standards and social order.

However, both Liberals and Conservatives ... agree that in certain instances, the good of society should be emphasized over the freedom of the individual. ... Both Conservatives and Liberals also agree that individuals have civil rights, protected by the supreme law of the land, the U. S. Constitution. Where is the proper balance between the needs of the social order and the rights of the individual? A Conservative would generally place the balance point closer to the side of tradition and social order, while the Liberal would tend to place the balance point closer to the side of the individual and free choice.


How are the root meanings of these terms, which after all  refer to the basic political division dividing our culture at the present time, still relevant?

2
 
The contrast between Conservatives and Liberals today tends to highlight Conservatives' inclination to focus on our need to pursue economic prosperity, while Liberals are inclined to emphasize our desire for social justice.  Here again, of course, this contrast is not absolute.  Conservatives may well value social justice to a degree, and Liberals certainly value economic prosperity as well. 

Both groups value both goals to varying degrees; but while Liberals would sacrifice a degree of personal prosperity in order to achieve a higher degree of social justice, Conservatives would sacrifice a certain degree of social justice - as in the distribution of wealth, for example - in order to achieve a higher degree of what they perceive as economic prosperity or the pathway to it.

To apply the original meanings of "Conservative" coming from "guardian" and "Liberal" coming from "liberty," it is convenient to focus first on their contrasting approaches to social or moral questions, reserving discussing of financial and political issues for later.

3

Conservatives tend to see themselves as the guardians of traditional practices and values.  Established religion, for instance, is seen as the source of the highest wisdom regarding personal choice and behavior.  Those whom we call "Fundamentalist Christians," who regard the Bible as the literal truth and as the only reliable guidance to morality, can also be called "Conservatives."  It is the duty of Conservatives not only to determine their own actions by means of tried and true religious teachings but also to work toward moral order in society by requiring all people - even those of different faiths, or no religious belief at all - to behave as their established or conservative religious teachings require.

For instance, it is not only necessary for such Conservatives to control their own personal behavior by refusing to abort even an unexpected or unhealthy fetus; it also seems their responsibility to prevent others from doing so.  If the law of the land does not conform with their religious customs in this and other ways, then Conservatives - in order to preserve tradition and establish the social and moral order which they seek - see it as their responsibility to change the law.

Same-sex relations are likewise not only to be avoided, but to be positively prohibited for everyone.

Liberals, on the other hand, stress the need for all individuals to be free to make their own decisions, even on such deeply significant matters as birth and sex.  Social or moral order, for Liberals, is less significant than individuals' liberty to choose for themselves.

Note: it is an anomaly of our time that "Libertarians," who value individual choice     (i. e. freedom) to an extreme, should tend to align themselves with Conservatives.


Of course, even Liberals recognize the need for society to protect itself from foreign aggression, from theft, from assault and other threats to security, restraining the freedom of would-be criminals and aggressors.  Conservatives in turn recognize that all individuals have the capacity to violate traditional religious taboos and must be held individually responsible for their immoral actions. 

The balance between the pursuit of individual liberty and the need for social and moral order is in a different place for Conservatives and for Liberals.

4


The contrast between Conservative and Liberal values on political and economic concerns is less evident and more complex than the contrast between them on social and moral issues.  But this contrast too reveals that the difference between the two groups lies in where each finds the proper balance between contrasting goals both of whose value is acknowledged by everyone in each group.

Conservatives highlight what they call "the free market" because such an economic system allows - or even promotes - the generation of wealth and prosperity.  The fact that the wealth generated may become concentrated among a relative few is not particularly troubling.  Also of little concern is the fact that one result of "the free market" tends to be cycles of "boom" and "bust," huge swings from high employment and rising mean incomes for the many, to widespread low employment rates and falling wages. 

Such would be of more concern to Liberals, who stress the value of social justice where all individuals have a real opportunity to prosper based on their personal abilities and ambitions and on their having the freedom to pursue their own interests.

In a time of financial downturn, the Liberal most regrets the greater number's loss of freedom to pursue their own interests.  In such a time, on the other hand, the Conservative most regrets the loss by those in economic power of their ability to continue increasing their fortunes.

Conservatives might even be ready to believe that such a concentrated accumulation of wealth benefits society generally, as in the saying "A rising tide lifts all boats," even if experience continues to show this is not true.  Liberals, on the other hand, may be tempted to intervene in "the free market" to such an extreme that everyone's opportunity to pursue their own interests is hampered by stifled ambition.

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Ironically, extremist alternatives, whether Liberal or Conservative, have proven to limit progress toward the very goal being pursued.

For instance, an extreme degree of control over the economy in order to free individuals from financial constraints can in fact lead to individuals' loss of freedom to perform in the economy as one would wish, limiting individual initiatives; thus, a Liberal temptation to pursue freedom can cause its very loss.

On the other hand, an extreme absence of control over the economy tends to lead to the growth of huge corporations with enough power to limit or even eliminate competition from other firms.  This result of such "free market" activity can thus lead to the economic system's losing the capacity to respond to new opportunities "freely" and therefore to weaken. 

In both instances, extremism leads to self-defeat.

6

When the Conservative says he values freedom, it may seem to Liberals that he is lying, because concentration of wealth in the hands of the few constrains the potential freedom of most individuals.  But this Liberal reaction would indicate a misunderstanding of the Conservative's intent.

Two things are worth pointing out here about the sort of freedom the Conservative pursues most aggressively.  (1) The "freedom" the Conservative seeks lies exclusively in the economic realm, not in the moral realm, where restraints of individual freedom are in fact the goal.  (2) And within the economic realm for the Conservative, the "freedom" he values is, in particular, freedom from control over financial dealings and economic initiatives, which control he would call "government interference."

While the Liberal would seek to manage the economy in order to preserve the economic opportunities of the most people possible, the Conservative would seek to free those established in economic power from public restraint in order to generate as much new wealth as possible.

In this realm too, however, all but extremists - whether Liberal or Conservative - recognize the value of both opposing goals.  The sensible Liberal understands the need for the economy to operate with enough freedom from interference to insure continuing prosperity.  The Conservative - except for extremists - understands how economic opportunity must be distributed widely enough to maximize creativity and innovation which are necessary for the economy to grow as efficiently as possible.

Once again, the difference between these two groups lies more in where they find the right balance between opposing values than in single-minded pursuit of one goal or the other.

7

I have referred to the apparent anomaly of today's Libertarians' tending to align themselves with Conservatives, rather than with Liberals who - like them - value freedom above other social ideals.  This often does seem contradictory.

Like the Liberal, the Libertarian wishes to preserve the individual's ability to choose his or her own actions.  Like the Conservative, the Libertarian opposes the Liberal's initiatives to control or manage the actions of the few, in order to maintain a relative amount of economic opportunity among the many.  Such management, according to the Libertarian, would constrain some individuals' ability to do as they please.  This should not be done, even if some individuals choose to consolidate their individual economic power, which may constrain the economic opportunity of many, or to pursue economic behaviors that may put the whole economy at risk.

Within the economic realm, maximum freedom for the "superior" individual - i.e. the more powerful individual - is the Libertarian's goal.  As in the other groups, of course, there are some extremists among Liberetarians who do not seem to value at all the freedom of most individuals - including the less powerful and the powerless - from the bondage of ignorance, poor health, and poverty.

Seeking to free some individuals from economic restraint, even at the risk of reducing the freedom of most people, is more important to Libertarians than other economic considerations.

8

Although it is complex, we can see that this political and economic position of the Libertarian does have a certrain logic.  It does not seem to make sense, however, for Libertarians to align themselves with Conservatives on social and moral issues


In the moral realm one would think they would share with Liberals the greater emphasis on maintaining the individual's ability to choose freely than on safeguarding traditional moral restraints, even when the free choice does not threaten harm to others (as in gay marriage, for instance).  Since Libertarians claim to value individual liberty above all, it would seem consistent for them to align themselves with the Liberals.

9

Now more than ever, it seems, we must beware of political, economic, and even religious leaders who seek to confuse us about their priorities among values or who are themselves confused about what their values actually are or about the consequences of the actions they desire.

One might even say that it sometimes seems that we have Conservative leaders "pretending" to uphold liberal values or Liberals "pretending" to uphold conservative values.

The debate over budget deficits may provide some examples of this appearance of hypocrisy.  Liberal leaders maintain that they are committed to reducing the now-habitual custom of the federal government's spending more than it takes in.  Such an effort would be to pursue a conservative goal. 

Liberals, however, would point out that reducing the annual and the accumulated deficit is of high importance right now because of our unusual current circumstances.  And they would further point out that even today, for them reducing the debt is still not more important than establishing and maintaining as equal as possible a degree opportunity for all to be economically independent.  They would go so far as to say that, in order to provide for the greatest degree of freedom from want and from restraint of the majority's pursuing their own economic interests, the deficit should be reduced by somewhat increasing the taxes paid by the richest few.  Their pursuit of budget balance and reduction of a smaller debt is not inconsistent with their core economic values.

Conservative leaders, on the other hand, maintain that they are committed to reducing the level of unemployment in order to serve the economic interests of the many.  Such an effort would be to pursue a liberal goal.

10

Observers of Conservatives, however, would point out that they are vehemently opposed to allowing to expire the recently-established tax reductions on the richest few, even though to renew them will make it much harder to achieve the goal of budget balance.  They are of course also willing to sacrifice some supports of the majority in making progress toward balancing the budget.  Protecting the interests of the most economically powerful at the sacrifice of the lesser economic power of the many is consistent with the Conservative value of freeing the wealthy from government restraint so that the fast accumulation of wealth may continue as much as possible. 

Balancing the budget is important for Conservatives and Liberals alike - in itself a conservative goal - but Conservatives place even more importance on protecting the interests of the rich just as Liberals place even more importance on sharing economic independence as broadly as possible.

Both groups are behaving consistently with the core values that distinguish them from each other.

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