Sorry this is so long after your reply. Thanks btw. I did understand what you meant but I think your analysis is off. I do agree that the problems in this country are caused by people of both parties who are “practical” (I like your use this of this term) and self interested. I think that people who are truly liberal are attacking the problem or the perceived problem from a different tact than what a conservative does. I think that a liberal believes that by engineering society in a certain way they can do away with injustice or at least level the playing field for everyone. In short they are trying to build a better society. The problem is that society is a made up of people who make a series of simple choices each day that may or may not be to their long term benefit. A conservative recognizes this and states that you cannot build a better society and that to try to do so will end up a disaster. I think they are both right. Do we want to go back to an America pre labor laws, pre pollution control etc etc. I dont. I know that without laws a corporation will infringe upon the rights of others. Environmentally they did this until laws were passed that stopped this for the most part. The middle path between these two is the correct path to take. You cannot have a decent society with out both. The only thing is that its not a straight dividing line between them. Sometimes we lean left sometimes we lean right. I for one do not want to live in a country where we only lean one way all the time.

Many thx for your thoughtful commentary.

I fear you missed a key point. I was not addressing “Democrats” and/or “Republicans”; nor was I addressing “Conservatives”–other than peripherally. Certainly, there are members of both parties that are scum. While it is true that “cream rises to the top” in many organizations, so does scum.

I was trying to get at the “basis” of Liberals. I do not believe that both Liberals and Conservatives have the same underlying philosophy. The purpose of my writing was to try to discern the underlying Liberal philosophy, or at least find a reason for their behavior.

I suggest to you that many folks who call themselves “Liberals” are REALLY “Conservatives”; and vice versa. In many cases, they are (philosophically) neither, just “practical”, selfish, and act in what they perceive to be their own self interest.

My Father-in-law was a dyed in the wool (southern) Democrat. Way back, when I was young and foolish, I asked him several questions about his beliefs (welfare, defense, etc.) He answered them. I then showed him that the questions came from the Republican platform, and he had answered them totally consistently with the Republican position. He wouldn’t speak to me for a month.

In terms of your “naupes”, I wrote about “The abominable no men.” Perhaps I’ll send it in and it will appear here.

always,
tony

I agree with many of your points, but I have to say you could be describing either party. I have seen the very actions you are describing in conservative people as well. I remember after I left college I got involved with the local Republican party. I am kind of opposite of what you describe in that when I was young I was very conservative and as I have aged I have become more liberal. Not sure why. I remember when I was in jr high I forged my fathers name to a petition to pardon Oliver North. Anyhow I was shocked at what I saw in the Republican Party. The “grass roots” that people talk about were made up of people of very low moral fiber. One man was a child molester. The others were just foul. They were all state workers that “worked” at the party functions just to maintain their employment status. Not all the people were like that of course but the lowest cadre were. Next were the local county officials who provided a buffer between the grassroots people and the elected state officials. They provided a thin veneer of respectability at party functions. It was a sad sight to say the least. These were all good “conservative” folks. I have to say that most of the people that were involved were there primarily to either get attention and feel important or to make sure that if there was any benefit they were first in line. There were some very good people. I dont want to make it seem like it was a complete cesspool but those people seemed few and far between. The thing is that what you described above is a description of humanity. I have seen a group of farmers sitting around complaining about the spending habits of the government and within minutes start complaining that they are not getting enough money from them. I have just recently seen corporate heads who all espouse conservative ideals working as hard as they can to get any government money thats possible. I have seen conservative people use the very same tactics of getting their way. I get a constant barrage of emails pushing the conservative agenda that when I do a little bit of research turn out to be complete lies. Last fall I was being shuttled around between plants in a private aircraft. I was impressed with the quality and staffing of the small town airports that seem to be everywhere out west. I asked the pilot how does a small town pay for all that. He replied that the Federal and State governments pitch in and what a great service these little airports are. He started extolling the praises of the FAA and how people dont realize what a great job they do. He said people always want to cut the budget for these airports to save money and how that would be a tragedy. A little while later we were talking about health care and he made the statement “well we both know the government cant run anything”. This was strange because moments before he was talking about the FAA like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Everyone is always working in their own best interest. Im really tired of both parties demonizing the other side. Dehumanizing each other. Neither liberals or conservatives want to destroy the country but they both like to act like the other side is plotting to do just that. The truth is each side believes they have the best plan, both sides think they are right. Both sides are wrong, conservatives have had some pretty bad idea’s over the years, so have the liberals. Both sides have had their share of good ideas too. You cant have a functioning country without a little of each. You dont accomplish much always being conservative. My brothers and I had a name for people like that “naupes”. They were always sitting up in the coffee shop each morning. They were all wealthy as they had gotten rich the old fashioned way, they inherited or married it. Anyone that showed any spark and tried to do things a different way they would always say the same thing “naupe! thatll never work”. Sometimes it would sometimes it wouldnt. It didnt matter to them because there was no way they were changing the way they did anything. They still pulled out their plows and let a big portion of their topsoil wash down the river every year. By God they were not going to change though, if it was good enough for their grandfather then it was good enough for them. In society you need both. You need some youth and young acting people to bring forth new ideas with the energy to push them through. You also need mature people, even naupes, to make everyone question what you are about to do. My father is great at shooting holes in ideas. He can kill a dream in about 3 seconds flat from 50 yards away and not even break a sweat. He is very good at vetting ideas and thats important, but if we would have kept doing things the way he wanted to we would have been broke by now.

Fantastic article! You just proved it’s possible to teach an old dog (me)new tricks. Very instructive.

Cheers, Tex