One Key Distinction between the average conservative and liberal....

[LakeErieLiberal]

I've been doing some thinking about the core beliefs that differ between Conservatives and Liberals.

I think I've figured out one core difference and I want to see what others think.

Liberals
1. As a general rule, liberals believe that all Americans would love to have the opportunity to be a hard working taxpayer and be able to support themselves and their family it just so happens that our economy does not provide that for everyone.


Conservatives
2. As a general, conservatives do not believe that all Americans want to be hard working tax payers but instead that a large amount of Americans are happy not to support themselves but "live off the government" instead and that these people should "stop being lazy" and "go get a job" with the underlying idea that there are all these jobs to be had out there but people are too lazy to take them.

I think this is close to one of the fundamental differences between us. What does DU think?

[Sekhmets Daughter]

1. As clear a distinction as any out there.

The tragedy is that between the two extremes, there are millions of people trapped in considerably less that optimal situations because liberals and conservative can't seem to figure out that neither meme is accurate.

[Permanut]

2. I'm not seeing the inaccuracy in the OP..

This is not a false equivalency, but a description of real differences.

[GitRDun]

3. My take

I've always found that the level of conservative garbage I hear coming out of the mouth of ANYONE is directly proportional to that individual's empathy for people they do not know. The less empathy the more conservative, and vice versa...just my take.

[LiberalEsto]

4. Conservatives also believe in reducing the size of government

so they can become government contractors. They then soak the government for far more money than it used to cost to do the work in-house. They end up living off the government themselves, only getting lots more money than the so-called moochers.

[0rganism]

5. you're on the right track, maybe take a look at it from the "cheap labor" angle

liberals think hard-working taxpayers should be fairly compensated for their efforts, with salaries and benefits sufficient to become active participants in the economy.

conservatives believe the wealthy should be able to freely exploit the less fortunate for profit, with salaries and benefits comparable to those of 3rd-world workers with whom they are seen as competing.

http://www.conceptualguerilla.com/?q=node/55

Another big difference is the movement conservatives' approach to honesty. The rank-and-file conservative views politics as a hustle and democracy as a pyramid scheme intrinsically and sees anyone pushing for untainted straightforward government as either contemptibly naive or extraordinarily deceitful. They respect effective snake-oil salesmen, and only give credence to leaders perceived as having bought into "the game" enough to reach positions of prominence.

http://www.thebaffler.com/past/the_long_con

Finally, despite their perpetual appeals to abstract notions of "freedom" and "liberty", most conservatives are distrustful of real freedom and liberty when exercised by commoners. They are, in fact, authoritarians who rely on charismatic leaders for their marching orders, or (a minority) authoritarian leaders themselves. For a very insightful read, I suggest Altmeyer's The Authoritarians, in which he carefully analyzes dependent personalities and those who prey upon them. You will find him aptly describing the conservatives you know.

http://members.shaw.ca/jeanaltemeyer/drbob/TheAuthoritarians.pdf

[RobertEarl]

8. That is a great description of cons thinking

Wealth means freedom. Poor means slaves.

Snakes in government is how they like it.

Authority is not to be questioned.

[dem4ward]

6. It's like a fork in the road.

One wrong turn and you wind up in the middle of the woods running from an axed murderer!

[forest4qt]

7. small government...growing population

I agree with your idea about the difference. Reps want a smaller government yet our population is growing. Seems like more people would need more not less.

[LeftishBrit]

9. I think this is indeed one of the key differences between right and left

But I would expand on it. The Right at the moment seem to have two beliefs about economic/work issues that are much worse in combination than individually.

(1) The one you mention: that everyone could get a job if they wanted; that unemployed or underemployed people don't WANT to work; are 'addicted to benefits'; and need to be thrown off the dole in order to force them to work.

(2) That job insecurity is a good thing; that it should not be too easy to get or keep jobs; that people need to live in fear of losing their jobs or they won't be 'productive'.

The first of these might not be so bad, if in fact there were full employment and jobs available for everyone. The second might in some circumstances not be so bad, if those who could not 'compete' were at least enabled to survive. But together, they constitute savagery: kick people onto the dole, and then kick them off the dole. Poverty is both a suitable punishment, and in itself a crime to be punished!

[Egalitarian Thug]

10. More basic; Liberals believe people are basically good and will do good, given the chance.

Conservatives believe people are basically bad and will do bad unless forced to do otherwise.