Why can't I understand the liberal mindset?

Question

I graduated from college. (paid my own way)
I have lived in America, Europe, and Asia.
Studied the four major religions in the world.
Lived good at times, lived in need of times. (money)
I have seen and have been friends with many peoples in the world...some rich some poor.
But I still don't get the liberals mindset.
I have seen poor people who struggle, but have happiness. I have seen poor people waiting for a hand out and miserable...
They want society to have the choice to abort babies who are innocent...but they don't want society to have the choice to kill convicted crimmals...the list can go one...almost everytime i try to a have a rational discussion with them...they just get angry, cursing and become uncivilized...i have tried to understand the liberal mindset, which is ironicly the liberal way...but after that...

BAAS at DBU
Sweden at Kristien Utmonin World Religions
Japan, America, Sweden, and Turkey

why am I not surprised there is name calling and accusations from them...(shakes head)...

Answer 1

Bullshit!

Answer 2

The far left and far right are equally wrong -- the basics should be to help those that are working to get better. But at the same time, consider that costs for goods/housing etc have gone up so much that where people were able to afford living on minimal income 30 years ago it is no longer the case. Also consider that some companies, eg Wal Mart, no longer provide enough income to workers to pay healthcare costs which have outpaced inflation leaving the worker to rely upon the government. We can argue that education is a significant factor to this -- but we also probably agree that children of the well to do receive a much better education or at least have the access to a much better education than the poor.
So many times the liberals look to right or correct some of these inequalities by redistributing wealth. Some individuals would and are willing to help support some endeavors, however, others are not.
Let's look at most CEOs -- one of a large national bank is paid over 20 million a year in a composite of stock options and pay. Sorry, but no one is really worth that much. And no one really needs that much income...
So those are some thoughts...though I am not a liberal nor am I a conservative (used to be very conservative). But, like you, went to school, lived in the US, Europe, and Asia and have studied econ, finance far beyond most people's understanding.

Answer 3

If you are seriously asking... this is how what I know of the mindset.

Whenever there is a split between an individual making a personal choice versus the government making that choice, they think the choice should be made by the individual. Especially if the choice is person, or involves life or death.

As a result, they don't want the govt deciding who can gets married or who can get pregnant. They don't want the govt deciding who can or cannot have any given medical procedure, including abortion. They don't want the govt deciding who lives or dies, whether it's capitol punishment or assisted suicide. In all of these cases, they think the choice should be made by each individual, and not by the govt for everyone.

In contrast, most conservatives want the govt to make those decisions, so the decisions are consistent and uniform, rather than being left up to the individual.

Many (not all) liberals want the govt to provide protection for the environment, and to provide a safety net (welfare, medicare, social security) for people who don't have money. They want the govt to treat everyone like a family, and make sure everyone can go to school, and get enough to eat, and stays warm in the winter.

And if the states and communities don't provide these services, then the federal govt should step in and pick up the slack, because we're all one big nation-wide family. That's the core of the liberal mindset.

Everybody play nice together. Go out and do your thing, and we'll be proud of you. But know that you'll always have a place at the dinner table if you run into problems. Very maternal, care-giver attitude.

Conservatives are more paternal, laying down discipline, going out and fighting the bad guys, keeping people safe by keeping them in line. Don't give the kids too much, it'll just spoil them. Better they learn on their own, it'll make them stronger in the end.

That's an over-simplification, but it highlights the main points of the liberal mindset.

Answer 4

the least perplexing ingredient to do in u . s . a . is be wealthy and stay wealthy. the toughest is to be undesirable and get wealthy, except you're an athlete. of direction there are people who take benefit of the equipment, yet they are the great minority of folk. study up on any of the information approximately who makes use of welfare or unemployment reward. there are various different components that circulate into the economics of the instructions and portray with extensive strokes such as you have ignores those components. human beings whinge that the ' center type' is disappearing whilst as a rely of actuality there are extra millionaires now than ever until now. every time I see somebody at here complaining approximately wanting weapons to guard themselves from ' those human beings', who're those human beings, people who if presented help might have the skill to upward thrust above the station they have been born to.

Answer 5

Open your eyes and you will find out that conservatives can be just as angry and uncivilized as you say the liberals are. Listen to Rush Limbaugh, listen to Ann Coulter, read many of the posts here by the conservatives. They're just as vile as you accuse the liberals are being.

I don't think you've truly tried to understand the liberal side with your heavy bias towards the conservatives.

Answer 6

People just have different opinions. Some things I agree with liberals on and some I disagree but I realize that they have a right to believe what they want. There are some liberals who may be more aware of their beliefs and why they want what they want that you may want to try and talk to if you're interested in finding out why they feel the way they do about certain issues.

Answer 7

I'm sure there are just as many stupid biased liberals as there are stupid biased conservatives. You have just spoken with the wrong liberals. Also, all liberals don't necessarily feel the same on all issues. I happen to be pro-choice, but I also believe in capital punishment under certain circumstances. I am a liberal and proud of it.

Answer 8

it sounds like you're talking about agreeing with a liberal ideology. you already understand it. you seem to be able to speak about it intelligently without resorting to name calling or wild accusations. everything you have described about liberals can be said of conservatives. consevatives want to preserve a fetus but see no conflict in executing a criminal (life is life and who are they to decide which is more valuable, isn't that god's job to judge?). and if you read this forum for any amount of time you will see the mud slinging and name calling from both sides.
my point is that you do understand the liberal mindset. you just don't agree with it. and that's fine. just continue to speak intelligently from your side and we'll try to speak intelligentl from our side and we can meet in the middle. compromise is how the country makes progress. not blind loyalty and muckraking.

Answer 9

Well...here is some civility. People change in many ways as they get older. The more interesting people to me are the people to have lived their life and seen things to change their views. Its like the cliche, live and learn. Zelots are those, who never change by clinging to their values as the only way of life from cradle to grave. Trust me very boring. I see that you are open to travel and seeing things with your eyes, but I encourage you to see things with other peoples eyes (or their view points). Once you understand where people come from or their point of view than you don't have to agree with them but then you understand them. This also has an effect on yourself where you learn to tolerate and accept people even if you don't agree with them. That allows open discussions on many topics...which leads to intellectualism and free debate, which in turn leads to a great culture and ends PC from both the liberals and conservatives.

Answer 10

I consider myself liberal, but I don't necessarily fit the profile you described.

The problem starts with the media (which is not as liberal-run as many believe--and not just Fox News, you monotonous liberals!). The media creates a black and white portrait of politics, red vs. blue, Rep. vs. Dem., Us vs. Them. With one exception, every friend I have would be on the liberal side of the fence according to the media. However I wouldn't necessarily label any of them as a Democrat or as a "Liberal." And I would be surprised if any one of these people (including the non-liberal guy) revealed to me that they think all conservatives are pro-life, pro-death penalty, anti-euthanasia, etc. What is destructive about partisan-thinking is the inherent divisiveness. Think about it, every one of us instantly and without hesitation associates Conservative with the Republican Party and Liberal with the Democrats. And yes, it is necessary to make divisions within the structure of politics, but why does that seem to necessitate divisive behavior among the general public? I didn't vote for George W. Bush, but I did vote for the Republican candidate for my state's Senate. You know why I voted for the "Conservative" Republican? Because he was, in my opinion, the best candidate.

What would be ideal, in my humble opinion, is for all people to carefully discern all they can about each candidate or issue that they encounter. FOR EXAMPLE: Why, when there are ample resources for people to do research, would they automatically assume George W. Bush is, like many Republicans, hard on immigration control? (Obviously, I know he's not, but that's a recognizable topic for the masses.) Among the general public, does there necessarily have to be Party A and Party B? Us and Them? I guess I sound like a hippie right now (and I guess I'm fitting the liberal profile by being socialistic here), but why can't the People work together for the greater good? How many people do you think voted for John Kerry simply because he was a Democrat? Or Bush for being a Republican? Many, many, many...without knowing the facts about either.

Answer 11

Here this might help. It is the liberal mindset. I am sorry if I do not understand the politics of greed. From Wiki.

Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value.[1] Liberalism has its roots in the Western Enlightenment, but the term now encompasses a diversity of political thought.

Broadly speaking, contemporary liberalism emphasizes individual rights. It seeks a society characterized by freedom of thought for individuals, limitations on power, especially of government and religion, the rule of law, free public education, the free exchange of ideas, a market economy that supports relatively free private enterprise, and a transparent system of government in which the rights of all citizens are protected. [2] In modern society, liberals favor a liberal democracy with open and fair elections, where all citizens have equal rights by law and an equal opportunity to succeed[3].

Many liberals advocate a greater degree of government interference in the free market, often in the form of anti-discrimination laws, civil service examinations, universal education, and progressive taxation. This philosophy frequently extends to a belief that the government should provide for a degree of general welfare, including the dole for the poor, housing for the homeless, and medical care for the sick. Such publicly-funded initiatives and interferences in the market are rejected by modern advocates of classical liberalism, which emphasizes free private enterprise, individual property rights and freedom of contract; classical liberals hold that economic inequality, as arising naturally from competition in the free market, does not justify the violation of private property rights. However, modern advocates of classical liberalism do advocate a heavier taxation on the corporation, as opposed to the current trend of the burden of income tax resting on the shoulders of the individual worker, as did the early classical liberals.

Liberalism rejected many foundational assumptions which dominated most earlier theories of government, such as the Divine Right of Kings, hereditary status, and established religion. Fundamental human rights that all liberals support include the right to life, liberty, and property. Liberalism has its roots in the Western Enlightenment, but the term now encompasses a diversity of political thought, with adherents spanning a large part of the political spectrum.

A broader use of the term liberalism is in the context of liberal democracy (see also constitutionalism). In this sense of the word, it refers to a democracy in which the powers of government are limited and the rights of citizens are legally defined; this applies to nearly all Western democracies, and therefore is not solely associated with liberal parties.