Why do Conservatives Embraces Libertarians, but Neo-Liberals Don't?

Discussion in 'Politics' started by RCG Trader, Sep 24, 2010.

  1. Ricter

    Ricter

    Alright, who hacked phenomena's account??

    ; )
     
    #41     Sep 28, 2010
  2. Because both are utilitarians, and thus prioritize outcomes/economics over morality/rights. Thus to a conservative, you are 75% right - you support a small government, less regulation, low taxes etc - and only 25% wrong - you 'naively' oppose authority and tradition. In a libertarian society, a conservative will still get most of what they want.

    To a left-winger (I won't pervert the word "liberal" by using it to describe socialist authoritarians) you are 75% wrong - you oppose egalitarianism, you oppose social justice spending programs, you don't want to enforce equality, you favour capitalism and profit - and only 25% right - you support the right for individuals to act with minimal restraint in their personal lives. In a libertarian society, a left-winger will not get most of what they want, in fact the entire apparatus of collectivist state redistribution will disappear overnight. How can you spread the wealth and "fight poverty" if the government privatises everything except security and law, and all welfare departments are abolished overnight?They will get the opposite - unrestrained competition, pursuits of wealth and other materialist goals, no safety net etc. Being able to toke up and fuck in peace will be small consolation.

    To a liberal, being able to smoke pot, watch porn, not have their favourite artists censored, and have the occasional bisexual encounter without being locked up or socially ostracized is a nice thing, but it's not what keeps them awake at night. Whereas the idea of a society where one guy can have $50 billion just by owning things, while another goes broke through no fault of his own, seems a horrific state of affairs, a moral outrage in fact.

    To a conservative, what matters is a nice pro-business environment, the ability to comfortably accumulate and preserve wealth and social status. It's not that important if someone does a few naughty things behind closed doors, so long as they recognise the established way of doing things, and don't try to upset the applecart. So they view libertarians as people who can be brought onside, once they get a bit older, get married, have kids, settle down and lose their youthful naivety. Whereas someone who hates the capitalist system and wants to reorder it to socialism, is a mortal threat.

    Left-wingers, being collectivists, see things in terms of systems not individuals. Economic affairs are not viewed as a matter of personal liberties interacting between consenting adults, but a systematic structure that results in unjust outcomes and is thus by definition oppressive, harming 'freedom'. The fact that they have to violate freedom in the most systematically oppressive way known to man in order to alter this, seems lost on most of them. That's why you don't find many left-wingers with an economics degree.
     
    #42     Oct 5, 2010
  3. It amazes to this day that Liberty is such a hard concept for most.

    3 rights of man, 3 functions of government, how hard is that????:confused:
     
    #43     Oct 5, 2010