Do conservatives and progressives substantially differ in how they question authority?

Question

There's been a lot of speculation here about why US politics is so divided, and why conservatives see politics in such a starkly different way than progressives. Could it be that conservatives are more likely to accept the established authority's account of what's happening and their policies, compared to progressives that question the rationale and premises of the leaders?

Well, you can look it up as well as me. Dictionary.com:

Progressive: Promoting or favoring progress toward better conditions or new policies, ideas, or methods: a progressive politician; progressive business leadership.

Answer 1

I believe your hypothesis is flawed. Do you watch the news, read the newspaper, read blogs, political books,etc? Yep, you must believe what you are hearing. Where do you live? Do you think that the news might be biased where you are? When have you last heard a BBC newscast, or watched Al-Jazzerah?
What is your definition of Progressive? If it is the Teddy Roosevelt definition, then you adhere to a more classical conservative approach. If you are comparing yourself to modern liberals, then you just need to call yourself that.
U.S. politics is not divided, just people don't care about the close similarities they share. Even most Political Scientists believe there is an increased volatility in the world democracies, but they ain't asking the right questions.
Instead of trying to label yourself, why not ask yourself why you believe what you do, and how important those beliefs are.
If your definition is hoping for change, then no, conservatives and pregressives are exactly the same. why do you believe conservatives don't question thier leaders? Who do you think are conservatives leaders anyway? Do you think people currently in elected positions are conservative?
I am not trying to be insulting, just when labels start getting thrown around, it narrows the scope of a question beyond any redeemable answer, and just becomes an opportunity to posture. If you really want to find answers, open up a bit more.

Answer 2

Sometimes I think conservatives and liberal/progressive/democrat/socialist or whatever you call yourselves now, aren't even the same species. It's not so much that we question authority in a different way, and conservatives question it just as much as liberals. When you are talking about the extreme left and extreme right, they are so fundamentally different in the way they see the world, it seems almost bioligically different.
As far as questioning what the administration says, I think when Bill Clinton was in office, libs believed pretty much whatever he said. Conservatives, on the other hand thought everything he said was a lie and conspiracy theories ran wild about what Clinton was REALY up to.
Now that a conservative Repub is in the white house, it's the libs that scream "lies" and "conspiracy".
Each side believes they are right and the other is wrong, and neither side thinks the other is fit to run the country. I think it's pretty much that simple.
By your definition of the word "progressive" I would say it describes the Republicans, since I believe we move the country forward and the Democrats hold it back. So since we both think we have the party of "progress" you can't really use that word to identify your party.

Answer 3

Yes, conservatives go about change lawfully.
Progressives make a nuisance of themselves protesting,
throwing pies at speakers they don't like, and pushing
their own agenda on everyone else (like English not being
the first language of America; giving illegals federal monies
for college and social security...that is already headed for
bankrupcy, letting the ACLU tell the leaders of our nation
what they should or shouldn"t do like changing Christmas
to Winter Holiday, etc).

Answer 4

Who are the 'progressives'? Are you talking about the socialist democrats?

I don't need to look up the word 'progressive'. I understand what it means. In your question, you menition conservatives versus progressives.

Socialism is not progressive.

Answer 5

I noticed that when Clinton was in office he could do no wrong for the progressive socialist. Raise taxes, cheat on his wife, send troop oversea without equipment to die, ban guns, promote hate, cheat on his wife, raise taxes, lie to a grand jury, cheat on his wife, send troop without equipment to die over seas, cheat on his wife, raise taxes. Did you question Clinton when he was in office, I did. Do I blindly go were the leaders say go NO WAY.

Answer 6

I think you have answered your own question, yes the democrats are more apt to question authority, the repukes are more apt to live the status quo. There is one exception and that is taxes, repukes do not like to pay their fair share and will speak out against any attempt to make them.