I like liberals and conservatives. Is that so wrong?

Question

Liberals and conservatives make for two very important components in society. Winston Churchill once said,

"Show me a young conservative and I'll show you a man with no heart. Show me an old liberal and I'll show you a man with no brain."

It might be an oversimplification, but there's some truth to it.

Liberals are at their best when they "feel" and back those feelings up with rationale. Conservatives are at their best when they "think" but don't step on compassion at the same time.

Instead of tearing eachother down, why aren't we challenging eachother to do our best?

Maybe there is a good reason for this. Maybe there is an unrepairable rift. I'd like to think this isn't true but I'm open.

So really now, what is wrong with conservatives and liberals encouraging eachother to be the best they can be? Do we live in a society where we have become so blindly partisan that we cannot see any contributions but our own? Is this unsolveable? If not, then what do we do?

In WW2, we had true unity. Both FDR and his opponents fought together against partisanship in the presidential race. They always stressed unity above all else. What happened?

Nice responses guys! Reasonable and to the point. Btw 5cents, I know what you're talking about. I agree that the pundits are much of the problem. Bill is closer to the center than most realize though, and al franken is little more than a comedian. I think it has more to do with the polarizing in our newsrooms than anything else. It's just a semi educated guess though.

plezurgui, I hear what you're saying, but your examples are limited to the college atmosphere.

Who started what? Tough to say really, or at least pin it on a specific event.

What I am sure of, is that we've seen an intellectual decline on the left, especially after the fall of the U.S.S.R.

It's really sad. Whenever I find a thinking member of the left, I want to jump for joy.

Calee, what about my last line bothered you? Should I have added that meeting non confrontational conservatives make me jump for joy too?

I hate partisanship and ignorance. The two go hand in hand. When I see a person in which these two qualities lack, I am happy. What it wrong with that?

Scottyurb, conservatives have nothing to offer mainstream? Conservatives are about protecting ideas. Do you believe we have no ideas worth protecting? It's basically the same thing as saying all ideas (no matter how bad) are worth protecting (which is what you'd be saying on the flipside if you were dismissing liberals.)

calee, that line wasn't in the original question. It was part of an ongoing discussion with a conservative responder about the faults of liberalism and how they may have contributed to this. If you'd like to discuss the faults on the right side of the aisle, I'd be more than happy to oblige.

Besides, I don't think any sane person would be UNABLE to see the intellectual diminishment on the left. Compare FDR to the people that scream, "OMFG BUHSU R BAD MENS HE R KILLD US ALL N DID 911!!!!1"

There's no contest. We need more FDR's and less mindless haters. If FDR were here, he'd say, "I disagree with Bush because........" and then give reasons.

BTW scottyurb, I looked up your quote and didn't find any evidence of it at all. I did however find evidence that my quote may have been a misquotation. My source was the history channel. Perhaps they erred and I did too by extension.

While you obvious come from a liberal persuasion in the ideological sense, the manner in which you conducted your response contradicted the premise of my question, and for that, I applaud you and your good example of a good response.

This is what I'd rather see. I'd much rather be wrong and watch this country improve then be right and watch it fall apart.

However, both you and plezurgui blame the opposite side of having created this feud. Interesting, no? At least it was done with civility. Good job.

I'm going to have trouble picking a best answer, many good ones.

Answer 1

You are a moderate as I am. They both share different values but mean the best. It's the polarization they produce and the hatred they have towards one another that is the problem.

As for the problem. We need a common cause. 9/11 was that cause. So now what? I don't know.

Answer 2

Nothing is wrong with either. Right Wing has some good ideas, Left Wing has some good ideas. Extremeists on both sides are the ones that I do not listen to. There is a point of TOO Conservative and there is a point of TOO Liberal.
The rational human chooses what they feel is better of the two bads.
Tough choice, that is why we fight. So that we have the Right to Choose Freedom. Doesn't always work, well it does,sometimes, but it isn't as instant as some would like.

Answer 3

What you say is has a lot of truth in it. It would be nice if people could disagree without being nasty. However, it is the Liberals that started the nasty stuff. So, were conservatives supposed to just "take" it? I don't think so.
What has happened here is not so much that the situation has changed, but rather civility has disappeared and it is mostly because of the internet. People sit at their keyboards, many times completely anonymous and spout off ridiculous dogma without fear of being confronted.
Liberals will say that it is the Conservatives that started the nasty attacks, but if you think about it you will agree with me. Have you EVER heard of a Conservative throwing food at a Liberal? Count the number of times that someone is booed, hissed, or called names by the audience for his or her ideas. Total them up and you will see that the victims of such abuse are ALWAYS Ann Coulter, Tom Tancredo, Dan Flynn, Campus Conservative Newspapers, and so on.

Answer 4

the fact is for the previous 30 years the working type' wages have stayed flat however the cost of residing has extra advantageous lots. human beings don't have funds to purchase issues which brought about layoffs and closings. That made the area worse then upload in 3 wars and tax breaks for the biggest funds makers it made it even worse. For the previous 30 years or considering that Reagan we've accompanied the philosophy that giving the wealthiest materials of sales loose rides it's going to make the monetary device extra effective. clarify that questioning. It in basic terms made us much less able to pay our expenses and look after the infrastructure and needy voters. So, those companies proceed to accumulate fortunes mutually as the foreclosures fee is returned on the advance as subsequently companies like Goldman Sachs, who in my suggestions brought about this finished mess. and you prefer me to take the little funds I stored from years of not basic artwork to bail out a device that has allowed the very richest human beings to stroll away with out shared duty? effective, i will provide up 10% of what I certainly have if Goldman Sachs does too. yet they might by no skill try this because of the fact they're grasping pigs. This u . s . a . will continuously fail at those levels of greed. i'm approximately waiting to show it over to the splendid just to show how F'd up they might make it. yet it is the final danger.

Answer 5

First off you misquoted Churchill--

"Any 20 year old that is a liberal doesn't have a heart, any 40 year-old that isn't conservative doesn't have a brain."

American mainstream political beliefs--regardless of parties--just happen to fall in line with liberal and progressive beliefs. Conservatives have nothing to offer mainstream America--they let their values transend to the far religious right--where no one cares to be or here from. It only took 25 years to see the unwanted results of Conservative Philosophy--lets see how the other side does it for 25 years. I know we will be much better off.

Answer 6

No, you're a reasonable person like the vast majority of quiet reasonable people in America. It's the guys like Al Franken and Bill O'Reilly that make all the noise and get all the attention and force people into choosing extremes.

Answer 7

I agree with you. People are making it more about the pure competition than just talking about issues. Its like people decide that just because a certain idea is labeled "liberal" or "conservative" they have to agree with their own group or fight againts the other. Sometimes I wish we could just do away with the whole thing.

Answer 8

It's not wrong but who do choose when it comes time to vote? You can't vote for both unless you don't vote which is fine if you don't care who runs the country.

Answer 9

Yes, it is very wrong. You must make up your mind right now! You MUST choose! which wil it be? Conservative or liberal?

Answer 10

No , I like you too .