| Your Political Profile: |
| Overall: 80% Conservative, 20% Liberal |
| Social Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal |
| Personal Responsibility: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal |
| Fiscal Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal |
| Ethics: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal |
| Defense and Crime: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal |
Well, big surprise, ha ha. Actually, I think this thing is a bit shallow, but that's how these quizzes are. I am somewhat liberal on some social issues and that has been a bone of contention between me and some toe-the-line people. Actually, my conservatism arises from the fact that I try to look at issues from all sides and decide what I think about them, and it turns out that more often than not, the conclusion I draw falls on the conservative side of the fence.
2 comments:
I think most people (at least the ones who are honest with themselves) are much more nuanced. And frankly, for the life of me, I can't even figure out why "Liberal" is opposite to "Conservative" or vice versa.
Take me for example, I lead a pretty conservative life as a human being. Money, sex, lying, stealing - you name it, I am a bit of a prude. I don't like personal debt and I don't like national debt, though I am enough of a pragmatist to understand that certain kinds of debt are unavoidable if you want to function in the current economy.
On the other hand, when it comes to the behavior of others - as long as it doesn't directly harm anyone, I have a liberal live and let live attitude. But I don't know if that is liberal or not, since the conservative part of me believes that we all need to learn to take more responsibility for our thoughts/words/deeds . . . and one way we learn this is by focusing on our own and not our neighbors.
I try to be open minded, a supposedly liberal thing, but for me it is conservative, in that I am loath to take a strong stance on anything until I have looked at all the angles. Conservative business people are like that - careful.
So, even though many/most conservatives might consider me a liberal (though I irritate some of my liberal friends with my conservative propensities) I am a "by their deeds ye shall know them" kind of person, which is actually a rather conservative perspective.
Confused? So am I!
Yes, it's a puzzlement.
I posted here about questions concerning when it's a person's place to mind another person's business, and how much the gov't should get involved in setting community standards. One thinks of conservatives as having more rigid standards, but one thinks of liberals as being more comfortable with the idea of the government making decisions for everyone. So when it comes to setting standards for a community, there has to be real unity on what those standards should be and how to go about setting them. Not too easy in a largish city.
I think the important thing is to look at all sides, as you say, and to make a decision based on careful thought and analysis rather than trying to stick to the party line. And I don't feel compelled to take a stand about every single issue that comes along. Some quite controversial issues are unsettled for me and they'll probably have to stay that way for a while.
I tend to dislike the way the word "diversity" is used but I am glad to have gotten to know people of different religions, nationalities, and so forth at work and at church. It probably helps me to be flexible in my thinking. It's just too easy to think of people as members of groups and to assign attributes to those groups, and both sides of the aisle are very prone to doing that.
Post a Comment