Seems like this- "fear" drives conservative thought, "progress" drives liberal thought. ya think?

Question

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1017546,00.html

Answer 1

If there was ever any question about the failure of Bush politics this should put the conservatives to rest. This is the best news this week, so far:

This weekend, Australians went to the polls and delivered an emphatic victory for Labor leader Kevin Rudd, while handing the party of conservative Bush ally John Howard its "worst election defeat in its 63-year history." Howard "suffered the additional ignominy of losing his own constituency seat" in addition to the prime minister's seat, the first time since 1929 that an Australian prime minister has been voted out of parliament. Rudd, a Chinese-speaking former diplomat who made combating global warming, strengthening workers' rights, and redeploying from Iraq key priorities in his campaign, "swings Australia toward the political left after almost 12 years of conservative rule." The incoming prime minister has wasted no time implementing his new vision for Australia. Yesterday, he convened a meeting with government officials to discuss the mechanics of signing onto the Kyoto pact on global warming, and he announced that he will attend a U.N. climate change conference in Bali next month. Rudd soon plans to begin negotiations with the Bush administration over the withdrawal of Australia's 500 troops from Iraq. "Today Australia looks to the future," Rudd said. "Today the Australian people have decided that we as a nation will move forward."

President Bush, who lauded the outgoing prime minister as a "man of steel," lost one of his "most steadfast allies" in Howard. The Bush administration had sought to influence the Australian elections with press offensives declaring the Iraq escalation a success, hoping that the reports would bolster Howard's campaign. For his part, Howard had interceded on Bush's behalf prior to the 2004 U.S. presidential elections, claiming a Bush reelection was needed in order to "stay and finish the job" in Iraq. In February of this year, Howard inserted himself into U.S. domestic politics again by spouting this smear: "If I was running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008, and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for [Barack] Obama, but also for the Democrats." In a 2003 speech delivered to the Australian parliament, Howard claimed history had proven wrong those critics of Bush who "assaulted his judgment, and called into question his ability to lead the U.S. in this very, very difficult conflict." History will instead deliver a very different message than the one Howard predicted.

COALITION OF THE DEFEATED: Like Britain's Tony Blair, Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, and Spain's Jose Maria Aznar before him, John Howard suffered greatly from his decision to participate in Bush's "coalition of the willing." His full-throated support for the Iraq war hurt him domestically. More than 60 percent of Australians want forces out of Iraq within a year, and Rudd pledged that Australian troops would leave by mid-2008 after consultations with the United States and the United Kingdom. Analysts noted that Bush "was a little more isolated in the world Sunday" after the loss of his close Australian ally.

Answer 2

Liberals want people to believe that.

Aren't they trying to make us fear Global Warming, the hole in the Ozone, deforestation, Population Explosion, DDT, ect.?

The globe has been much warmer than it is today for most of its history with only disasters driving the average temperature anywhere near our current average.

Ham operators were trying to set the Ozone alarmists strait about the normal cycle of the hole during the whole debate and it fell on deaf ears.

The alarm about deforestation continues even though the amount of forest on the earth is growing instead of shrinking.

The alarm about Population Explosion died instantly when it was discovered that the earth produces enough food to feed close to 30 billion people and all the animals every year.

DDT is used, with the blessing of the World Health Organization, in Africa, to fight the out of control Malaria problem.

If it is really a carcinogen and mutagen, why would the WHO people be OK with its use? And why only in Africa? What is so different about Africa from the rest of the 3rd world?

Liberals murder innocent people with their fear mongering BS at a pace that makes the war mongering conservatives look like rank amateurs by comparison.

Answer 3

Fear from winning in Iraq and protecting our country from attacks from terrorists. Fear from becoming socialist and having the government tell me how to live my life.

Progress to government control over every aspect of my daily life. Progress to allow terrorist to kill us.

Yea, seems to me that the former line of thinking is more in tune with what I would like out of my life and for my children and grandchildren. Seems the latter is a line of thinking for the ruination and destruction of the American way of life.

As an American I would hope that people take a much closer look at what really drives the 2 lines of thinking. Conservatives believe in the people. Liberals believe in the government. Now from experience, people are the ones who overcome any obstacle and government has always been slow reacting and way too costly for overcoming anything.

Answer 4

No, fear drives both of them.

NeoCons are afraid of third world countries.

NeoLibs are afraid of the sun cooking us.

Both lead to more taxes, irresponsible excessive spending, and a new boogeyman for this generation.

Let's look at the past couple decades in the white house. We've been told to be afraid of....

-Communists on the other side of the world
-The middle east
-Teenagers
-the middle east again
-global warming

They are ALL based on fear, as it gives them your approval when they pull out Tax X to combat Threat Y.

Here comes the carbon emissions tax!

Answer 5

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

First, IF liberals thought, it would be because a gun had been put to their head, and even then it would be hard for them.
Second, conservatives are not "driven" by fear, they look for ways to prolong our nation's existence, whereas the liberals try to find ways of destroying it.

Go Thompson!

Answer 6

There is nothing liberals progress at other then having no self control and no brains

Answer 7

I do not agree. Conservative thought is grounded in the Constitution which mandates that our government provide us with a militia. A respectable amount of fear is a healthy thing when it comes to preserving our freedoms.
On the other hand, what libs call "progress" is a extra-constitutional exercise in redistribution of wealth.

Answer 8

I don't know about fear... but conservatives are definitely driven to resist change ... not that that is a bad thing in and of itself... it's good to progress at a level your people are ready for... and not any faster.. and conservatives do help maintain that balance... the problems arise when they have complete, autonomous control as happened in the first part of the Bush Presidency.

Answer 9

I'd substitute 'Hope' for progress, but yes, fear is a big component, especially when exploited by political operatives to motivate the population for or against something.Fear puts people in a mindless state that makes them easy to control; that's always been the case.

Answer 10

Not really. It's more like "fear" is used by both parties to control and influence the voters.

Answer 11

Yes. Its mostly fear of change. Conservatives believe the sky will fall if anything changes. Liberals embrace change as a way of improving the status quo.