Quote:
Originally Posted by Son Of Man
Societies fail for varying reasons, but your point is taken. There need to be checks and balances in the execution of Liberal (not Socialist, which is an economic system) governance, or all will be lost. In a capitalist society, those checks and balances become all the more important, as we have seen through our history. There are those among the "haves" who would show no hesitance to crush the "have nots" to obtain more. Moreover, there are those who simply fall through the cracks in our system, and need assistance to climb out. Then there is the affore mentioned criminal element who prey on us all.
The Conservative philosophy, which appears to be, "Evey man for himself, and God for us all." Strict adhereance to it would, by my estimation, lend to chaos. The type we see in developing nations where the groveling and struggling of the masses in the streets is not a concern to those who live in well-manicured, gated communities. This would be unacceptable, and un-American.
Social scientists generally agree that human nature is neither good nor bad. The overwhelming majority of us fall someplace in the middle, and that's irrespective of race or class.
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I wouldn't say that the conservative philosophy is every man for himself, and God for us all, that would be more of the anarchist thought. I'm not saying that conservatives in America are as far right as you can get. I agree, anarchy is chaos. I would define the conservative thought in America as "life, liberty, and property for all, protected by the government." I have seen many places in third world countries where the masses are separated from the elites in gated communities, and it does seem cruel, but the people in those gated communities are contributing to the economies of those countries and giving jobs to the masses. This was quite evident when I went to Tanzania last summer, and it does actually work, and the people aren't that bad off (they are actually happier than Americans, who are some of the richest people in the world). Basically, conservatives want to protect people's natural rights, and liberals want to make slight allowances for the good of the people who are less well off. There isn't anything inherently wrong with this except for the fact that the government can get carried away, and become tyrannical.