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What's the point of being conservative?

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ruveyn
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15 Dec 2012, 7:01 am

hfwang18 wrote:
Raptor wrote:
Quote:
What's the point of being conservative?


That question doesn't even make sense.
You determine your right/left political standing by examining you values and views are and how many of each fall in what category.


The thing is, I can never let personal feelings intrude on my politics. I am not entitled to have an opinion just to have one- it has to be backed up in facts. And the facts usually favor the left wing. And being conservative is arguably useless because society always progresses so you'll always lose.


Your politics reflect your preferences. How can this be without "personal feelings"? What is a preference anyway?

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hfwang18
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15 Dec 2012, 1:32 pm

ruveyn wrote:
hfwang18 wrote:
Raptor wrote:
Quote:
What's the point of being conservative?


That question doesn't even make sense.
You determine your right/left political standing by examining you values and views are and how many of each fall in what category.


The thing is, I can never let personal feelings intrude on my politics. I am not entitled to have an opinion just to have one- it has to be backed up in facts. And the facts usually favor the left wing. And being conservative is arguably useless because society always progresses so you'll always lose.


Your politics reflect your preferences. How can this be without "personal feelings"? What is a preference anyway?

ruveyn


...What I'm trying to say is, I will never allow myself to hold an opinion without facts backing it up, and if facts contradict my opinion, it would be stupid of me to hold my opinion.



ruveyn
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15 Dec 2012, 2:01 pm

hfwang18 wrote:

...What I'm trying to say is, I will never allow myself to hold an opinion without facts backing it up, and if facts contradict my opinion, it would be stupid of me to hold my opinion.


Facts don't -determine- outcomes, they -constrain- outcomes. Two different reasonable people can look at the same set of facts and come to different conclusions. A lot depends on personal experience.

ruveyn



marshall
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15 Dec 2012, 2:04 pm

hfwang18 wrote:
EsotericResearch wrote:
Classical liberalism is different from what is called progressivism or liberalism today. What was traditionally called "liberal" meant smaller government and more autonomy. What America calls liberal today is called social-democrat or socialist in most other places - my cousins often tell me that the U.S. is more Communist than China, where they live.


I grew up in mainland China, and this is true- China is hyper-capitalist nowadays.

This is proof that lax regulations, business friendliness, and consumerism doesn't necessarily lead to freedom. Big Business loves China but a lot of the people find the level of corruption and censorship of free-speech rather obnoxious. Also, China today is far from being economically libertarian. The government does take care of the very poor and even the wealthy areas like Hong Kong have subsidized housing and healthcare.



xenon13
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15 Dec 2012, 2:38 pm

In many cases of the fortunate, it helps them to feel better. That's a good reason.