Reply to: Conservatives more content

[expat]

if you were driving in a remote area at night, no other car within five miles, and you came to a set of traffic lights on red. After a while they are still on red. Would you assume they were busted and drive through them ?

Sure would! No really, I would (a) wait quite a long time, (b) not assume that they are busted, but deduce that they are probably busted. (c) drive through them.

BTW the rules are you wait, if you don't want to wait any more you tuen round and go a different way.

[DimPrawn]

Lefties are usually thick ex art students, so don`t have any useful skills. They engage in gratuitous moral posturing to demonstrate virtue and so boost their self-esteem.

WHS

Stabbin's too good for 'em.

[dinker]

Lefties are usually thick ex art students, so don`t have any useful skills. They engage in gratuitous moral posturing to demonstrate virtue and so boost their self-esteem.

[EternalOptimist]

That's pretty much right, if oversimplified.

I believe that people should be left to run their own lives as much as possible, both because it is right and because they do it better than anybody else. But that is true in general, not in every case.

I believe that there is such a thing as society, and it can be improved. But how best to do so, can not be known in advance.

Therefore I believe in a system of piecemeal social change, responding to results, and learning as we go; while knowing the difference between applied testable methods, and real moral principles. I believe in as much liberty as possible, but that is not infinite. I believe in not making too many rules, but making (and changing) some. I believe in not preventing people from spending their own money (I didn't say "allowing", I said "not preventing"; it is not the govt's to "allow"), but I also believe that there is such a thing as a community, expressed by delegating community powers to govt, and funding it in common; and I believe that we have some duty to our fellow citizens, our fellow humans, and our posterity.

So I don't easily classify as leftie or rightie liberal, but liberal I am: we used to call it social democrat. That didn't used to mean "indecisive wimp" and for me it still doesn't.

if you were driving in a remote area at night, no other car within five miles, and you came to a set of traffic lights on red. After a while they are still on red. Would you assume they were busted and drive through them ?

[Cyberman]

I am always worrying about the mess that the left-wingers make of the public services, their high taxes, high inflation, incompetence, corruption, lies, spin and theft of my Northern Rock shares.

[NotAllThere]

otoh if you're not a liberal when young, you've no heart, and if you're not a conservative when you're old, you've no head.

I wonder how many of the successfully suicidal high-IQ types died before they made the switch?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

If you do a quick google it appears that people with higher a IQ are more prone to suicide and depression - does this mean conservaties have a lower or average IQ? :-)

[expat]

Left-wingers are illiberal on economic issues but liberal on social issues, right-wingers generally the opposite.

That's pretty much right, if oversimplified.

I believe that people should be left to run their own lives as much as possible, both because it is right and because they do it better than anybody else. But that is true in general, not in every case.

I believe that there is such a thing as society, and it can be improved. But how best to do so, can not be known in advance.

Therefore I believe in a system of piecemeal social change, responding to results, and learning as we go; while knowing the difference between applied testable methods, and real moral principles. I believe in as much liberty as possible, but that is not infinite. I believe in not making too many rules, but making (and changing) some. I believe in not preventing people from spending their own money (I didn't say "allowing", I said "not preventing"; it is not the govt's to "allow"), but I also believe that there is such a thing as a community, expressed by delegating community powers to govt, and funding it in common; and I believe that we have some duty to our fellow citizens, our fellow humans, and our posterity.

So I don't easily classify as leftie or rightie liberal, but liberal I am: we used to call it social democrat. That didn't used to mean "indecisive wimp" and for me it still doesn't.

[expat]

You wishy-washy bleeding heart liberal you.

The reason more conservatively oriented people don't get upset, is because they view that people are largely responsible for their own actions. Borrow too much, you get repossessed. Whereas your average liberal wrings their hands over how awful it is that banks are allowed to lend money to people who won't be able to pay back.

People are largely responsible for their own actions. If you think that pretty well all people are responsible for pretty well all that happens to them, then you either haven't seen much or haven't thought much.

If you don't think that, but don't give a toss anyway, then I suppose you're a right-winger.

[NotAllThere]

Left-wingers are illiberal on economic issues but liberal on social issues, right-wingers generally the opposite.

[DimPrawn]

You wishy-washy bleeding heart liberal you.

The reason more conservatively oriented people don't get upset, is because they view that people are largely responsible for their own actions. Borrow too much, you get repossessed. Whereas your average liberal wrings their hands over how awful it is that banks are allowed to lend money to people who won't be able to pay back.

And then insists on more legislation to prevent that, increase this, decrease the other, outlaw that mostly, blah, blah.

This is the fundamental difference between the overbearing state-controlled, big brother, left wing, interferring, neo communist New Labour approach and a sensible freedoms oriented right wing approach to life.

[NotAllThere]

You meant the world's a tulipty place but right-wingers don't care? Not a recipe for contentment that I could live with.

You wishy-washy bleeding heart liberal you.

The reason more conservatively oriented people don't get upset, is because they view that people are largely responsible for their own actions. Borrow too much, you get repossessed. Whereas your average liberal wrings their hands over how awful it is that banks are allowed to lend money to people who won't be able to pay back.

[DimPrawn]

Therefore pig ignorance must be ecstasy

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Ignorance is bliss

[expat]

Right-wingers happy, left-wingers miserable

Apparently, it's because right-wingers don't get upset about social inequality, unlike left-wingers who are right whingers.

You meant the world's a tulipty place but right-wingers don't care? Not a recipe for contentment that I could live with.