Conservative Arguments and Liberal Arguments?

Question

I want to here them. Picture me as the only voter in the entire USA. Persuade me to one side another. I will choose the best argument. I will not be politically bound. Please cite sources if possible. What do you think? I would love a variety of opinions. Try not to bash current leaders of the opositte party or people answering as well. Thanks! Happy debating!

I apologize for only two perspectives. I am basing those as the two to debate. But if you consider yourself in the gray, that is fine. What I am honestly looking for are arguments and ways to back them up. I am under 18 and will be a future voter. Persuade me. Religious persuasion please be saved until my future questions.

Answer 1

I can only share with you the reasons I am conservative:

I don't believe in abortion
I don't like having alot of government involvement in my life
I hate paying alot of taxes
I have no problem with guns
I believe in traditional values and the nuclear family
I don't believe in social programs as always being permanent
I think we deserve to keep more of our money being allowed to decide how to help others with it.

Answer 2

Why only two sides? There is the Libertarian viewpoint to consider.


Many people say I am closer to a Libertarian than anything else.
I tend to be socially liberal, but fiscally conservative, but with exceptions.
I believe in a woman's right to choose, even though I don't care for abortion. But I'm a guy, so I have no right to tell a woman what to do. That's between her and her creator.
I believe school vouchers are a good thing, not only because I have little faith in the Public schools, but I figure if we are forced to pay taxes for school, then we have the right to send our kids to whatever school we want.
I believe strongly in the right of all citizens to keep and bear arms, ON THEIR PERSON if need be, for personal protection.
I also believe in the rights of Gays and Lesbians to marry, and feel they should not be discriminated against IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM.
I believe we need to go to much greater lengths to protect our environment, and it's animals and trees and lands and water.
I believe marijuana should be legal across the board.
I think we need to get back to the moon as soon as possible.
I think the police need to be severely restricted in their powers to search and sieze. I also believe that more people should be more involved with government at some level, as a part of good citizenship.
Most importantly, I believe the Christian and Catholic churches in this country are wielding WAY too much power and influence on legislation and media programming, and need to be severely curtailed AND TAXED!
And Indian Gaming needs to be left alone. It's about time my Native ancestors got the chance to earn a good living their own way.
And on and on.

So, don't fall into the trap of thinking that there are only two valid viewpoints. Think outside the box!
Thanks.

Answer 3

A sound economy is the key to Americas FREEDOM. To accomplish this we need to loosen the regulatory ties that are holding back the growth of our economy. During the last five years more Americans have purchased houses than ever before in our history. Had it not been for a reduction in onerous and confiscatory taxation which has allowed our economy to bloom this would have never happened. When you consider the deep hole that the dotcom speculators put us into, it really is amazing what allowing ALL americans to keep more of what they earn can do. All americans deserve to be treated the same, equal opportunity and treatment under the constitution and to help accomplish this we will begin to dismantle the current tax system to something more along the lines of FAIR or FLAT or SALES, and of course those who are existing at or below the current poverty level we will begin a program to give them the tools to earn more and raise themselves up. Equal opportunity, not equal outcomes necessarily but certainly the chance to improve, a hand up, not a hand out.

Currently today our education system is a dismal failure. Our students graduating from high school are distinctly behind other countries and some cannot even read at a level that would allow them to succeed in college level courses. This has been going on for years and has gotten worse. The day the education system determined that it would hurt someones feelings to fail a class was the day the system slipped into the abyss. America is founded on success and failure and our country is strong because when we failed we learned and came back stronger and improved. The first day I am in office we will immediately begin to allow competition in education and eliminate the current socialist system where no schools can fire an incompetent or corrupt teacher. Funding will be shifted and each and every citizen will be allowed to take their education dollars where they believe they can get the best education for the best dollar. We will help fund start up competitors in education and in time completely eliminate this socialist fiasco called public education.

We have at times over the past few years faced what some would call an energy crisis. I prefer to think of it as an energy opportunity. Current subsidies for all will stop and the free market will work. We will eliminate almost entirely the bureaucratic nightmare that energy producers have to go through just to stay in business. We will open up our country to exploration in its entirety with reasonable expectations that the companies will do the right thing in terms of the environment. Those that fail will be punished into non-existence. We will support through competitive grants alternative ideas to the current energy usage and supply. We will assist in getting America off of oil for heat and move to nuclear generated electricity for almost all uses in homes and businesses leaving oil for transportation only. We have the resources to be energy independent and we will become that way shortly.

Our current healthcare system is the best in the world. Our doctors, medicines, facilities and research are the best in the world. We also have the highest cost. We will begin to correct the shortcoming by allowing people to choose either a socialist system with considerably lesser quality of care and facilities along the lines of European countries and we will allow those who are willing to pay as they go to continue to have care and services they have today. We will nationalize healthcare insurance. For far too many years these companies have profitted extremely well, just check their stocks, and they have constantly been able to write their own rules in congress. This stops. Insurance will be purely competitive, the ones that survive will give people a reasonable price for the coverage. The years of rape and pillage from the insurers is over and congress will not be bribed again to support these people. This is my one and only socialist item in my agenda and hopefully someday very soon we can go back to a purely competitive free market.

Finally I must speak to the issue of islamofascism. There are people in this world that seek to destroy us and they will go to any extremes to accomplish that. We must fight them there, not here. Innocent americans shall not have their lives at risk again. I will be suspending executive order 12333 and will be allowing the military to take whatever measures it needs to eliminate completely this threat to our country. Without going into many specifics I intend that we eliminate the leaders of these people be they religious or political.

A vote for me is a vote for freedom.

(man that was a lot of work)

Answer 4

I'm a Democrat. I'll respond to kelletgal

I can see why one wouldn't believe in abortion, however making laws about it requires that the government has a more active role in our lives, which she is against. Think about it: You uncle rapes you (or anyone rapes you for that matter)and your government tells you that you have no choice but to bear the child. Sound good to you?

Well how about give the child up for adoption?
Fair enough, but if you believe in traditional family values, then that means we don't want any gays or lesbians adopting children. Sure they may be willing loving parents, but they don't fit your idea of what a family should be, so you believe they should just go on being wards of the state, and everyone knows thats better right? (Because anything is better than being better than being raised by gays.)

Everyone thinks that these tax cuts are gonna last. We can just keep spending BILLIONS on the war we are in and never have to pay for it. It won't affect the economy or the value of the dollar at all. WRONG.

And as far as guns are concerned, what are we going to do with AK-47s that are now legal? Go hunting? Someone has to and buy one legally and shoot up a school before we ask why they were able to get one at Walmart, so I'll get back to you on that.

As far as why I'm a Democrat:
I truly believe in the idea of smaller government and freedom. The government shouldn't be allowed to tell anyone who is and isn't allowed to get married. And for those that say that gay marriage would open the door for bigamy and bestiality, the same things were said a little more than thirty years ago when interracial marriage was still outlawed in some states.

I believe that as much as we talk about how much welfare costs, we will spend BILLIONS on things like the space program, and foreign wars and more advanced weaponry while claiming not to have the money to feed the poor. We could do better.

I think religion has no place in our politics. Some things we can agree on. Don't kill. Don't steal. Fair enough, but things like the abstainence only education in our school that are there because we don't want to encourage our kids to have sex are only leading to them catching the diseases we aren't teaching them about. And even though the majority of the people here are some kind of Christian, it doesn't make it right to tell someone of a different faith or none at all "You can't do business on Sunday because our holy book doesn't allow it." And then there is the whole government being anti-gay because of what the main religion here says about it. Marriage aside, do you know how much money the military spends to replace personel in vital roles that are perfectly capable of doing their jobs because they found our they were gay? It's ludicrious.

One last thing: It's incredibly liberal and radical thinking of me but, it cost the country between 30 and 40 thousand dollars a year to keep each person in prison. Given that the fast majority are there because they couldn't make that much money, couldn't our tax dollars be put to better use? I have never heard any Republican say anything like that.

Answer 5

If you vote for me I will make sure you are Safe and free.
Iwill see to it that You have the right to choose wether you want an abortion or not. If we made abortion illegal we would have a lot more needless fatalitys.
I will make certain you have the right to bare arms. our founding fathers made sure and thought it was crucial that we have the right to bare arms and so shall I
I will raise taxes but only too the levels of 1999 and no higher. how can you miss money that you never had in your hand in the first place? and i dont see any harm in helping people that have had less chances than alot of us have had. if you had to grow up on your own and struggle to have barley anything. you would want help with education to get a better paying job and health care and the like too. every one deserves a shot at a good life.
yes i would pull out of iraq. wageing a war on a country that had nothing to do with any of the reasons we went to war in the first place, just does not support the values we as a nation have always held high. (as ive stated in previous posts Iran are the real terrorists)
I would not stop the war on terror. I would fight it diferently
I dont understand gay people nor do i care to. but, i do beleive that every one has the right as well as the freedom to persue happyness as long as it does not harm others. and I can see where a joint union somthing like the rights of a marraige can benifitt some people. I dont how ever feel right about letting them (gay people) be parents if there is a straight parent that can take the responsablity of a child.
I would abolish things like nafta and cafta because they really arent good for the working man. and I would tax the hell out of american companys that did not want to hire americans.
I would fund alot of research to get us as a nation off the dependcy of oil all together. I can go on all night but those are a few of the things i would acomplish as your next president.

Answer 6

Why should you be a liberal?

We liberals believe in universal healthcare. Why? Because millions of people are without healthcare. Universal healthcare would give you more choice and cost cheaper.

We liberals believe in the civil rights movement. Why? Because we have values in which men, women, blacks, whites, gays, straights, and people of all religion are treated equally under the law.

We liberals believe that Social Security is a great social program for America's elders. Not only have we retired a couple of generations with this program, but we have reduced poverty for elders significantly.

We liberals believe that unions are good for America. In the 20th century, unions squashed child labor and harmful working conditions. Unions still have a long way to go to get a living wage for everyone.

We liberals believe that the wealthy should pay their fair share through progressive and estate taxes. After all, the do use the Chamber of Commerce the most. One also knows that the wealthy save most of their money, while workers spend most of their money. If we repealed these taxes, we would surely be under a plutocracy. Tax money should be spend with care.

We liberals believe that our air and water should be clean and not messed with. We believe action should be taken to keep our environment stable.

We liberals believe that our security matters most and that we should not fight wars for some other country. We should strengthen our country's defense so that terrorists will be unable to harm us.

That is why you should be a liberal.

Answer 7

Well, the very first post shows you something, does it not? Because you don't want bashing, can only list some of the platforms of each party:

Republicans:

Lower Taxes
Smaller government
Strong defense
Accountability in Education
Self-Reliance
No Abortion on demand
Support war on terror
STOP illegal immigration (true repubs believe this)
Strong sentences for felons (especially crimes against children)
We need to get out of the UN
Etc.

Democrats:

Higher Taxes
Income redistribution
Abortion on demand (at any time during pregnancy, for any reason)
Large government
Entitlements for all
More money for education will fix it
Cut and run in Iraq
Terrorist rights
Rehabilitate felons (even pedophiles)
Cradle to grave interference from the government
UN is the answer to many of our problems
etc.

Okay, some of these are put in my own words, may seem sarcastic, but it is my view.

Answer 8

My personal reason for being conservative, As I grew up all I heard from most liberals was a bunch of hate for about half of the US population. I found it difficult to agree and took issues with many of those statements. I would rather support issues that allow every America to become a greater person and take personal responsibility for themselves than not.

Answer 9

Hey that is the best way to get your homework assignment done I have ever seen.

With brains like yours you could be a politician. Think about it. Never have to work or pay for lunch. Get the best cloths available on your expense account. And get a big book deal when you retire.

Go big Red Go

Answer 10

In the most general terms possible, it's like this. Every single advance in history is the result of "liberal," "progressive" thinking. Everything we enjoy today was once considered "evil" and "radical," including the right of the girl above who considers herself "conservative" to vote at all. "Conservatism," historically, is the force of The Reaction - it's essentially the old people afraid of change who try to hold everything back, burn books and pioneers in the name of "religion," conduct witch-hunts, enslave the poor, keep learning and education back, etc.