What separates liberals from conservatives is where one philosophically falls on the following 3 views

[conan]

@PurpnGold

No.

No? No what…Freedom from?

[WuWei]

@SottoVoce

@WuWei

If you have to put a qualifier in front of liberal, you aren’t a liberal.

@SottoVoce

Laissez-faire economy

Not true

You are arguing there is a universal definition of “liberal” which is unchanged by time or context?

No, libs corrupted the word.

[PurpnGold]

@conan

No? No what…Freedom from?

No to both

[conan]

So no to freedom from government…

[PurpnGold]

@conan

So no to freedom from government…

Conservatives don’t believe in absolute freedom from government. They love government overreach when it suits their needs.

[hwyflier]

@Eagle-Keeper

How one views Individualism vs. Collectivism, along with Individual responsibility. How one views diversity. How one views the efficacy of government and the nobility (or lack thereof) of those in power.

After many years of political discussions and debates I’ve concluded that most people have no idea what any of these things mean.

[conan]

You ever seen me advocate for more government?

[PurpnGold]

@conan

You ever seen me advocate for more government?

I’ve seen you advocate for using the government as a weapon against your political opponents.

[Paul_Thomson]

How many computers are you using at the same time to troll conservative sites? And how much are you being paid to do so? Just curious.

[conan]

So…it’s what libs do and advocate.

[PurpnGold]

@conan

So…it’s what libs do and advocate.

Then cons are no better, congrats.

[conan]

I’m willing to make a deal. Stop using government as your political weapon and I will retract my statement.

[SottoVoce]

@WuWei

@SottoVoce

@WuWei

If you have to put a qualifier in front of liberal, you aren’t a liberal.

@SottoVoce

Laissez-faire economy

Not true

You are arguing there is a universal definition of “liberal” which is unchanged by time or context?

No, libs corrupted the word.

Seems contradictory. If there is no timeless universal definition, why use “corrupted?” It’s changed over time. Just like the conservatism of Burke, Federalists, Whigs, Republicans, Lincoln, McCarthy, Kirk, Friedman, Goldwater, Reagan, Tea Party, etc. have changed what conservatism means. Or is there some universal definition of conservatism that they have corrupted? Do we use 17th century British conservatism as the definition? French Revolution? Start from scratch with Adams?

[WuWei]

Etymology.

[PurpnGold]

@conan

I’m willing to make a deal. Stop using government as your political weapon and I will retract my statement.

Oh, so for you to stick to your conservative ideals, you need libs to help you.

Hilarious

[hwyflier]

@conan

You ever seen me advocate for more government?

Yes.

I can point to your demands for increased regulation of the internet.

[conan]

I advocating cutting off all government subsidy to those internet companies.

Oh wait…you libs believe cutting government subsidies is government interventionism.

[SottoVoce]

@WuWei

Etymology.

Middle English: via Old French from Latin liberalis , from liber ‘free (man)’. The original sense was ‘suitable for a free man’, hence ‘suitable for a gentleman’ (one not tied to a trade), surviving in liberal arts . Another early sense ‘generous’ (compare with liberal (sense 4 of the adjective)) gave rise to an obsolete meaning ‘free from restraint’, leading to liberal (sense 1 of the adjective) (late 18th century).

Ok, now what?

[DougBH]

I find the difference simpler than that.

Is it “your” money or is it “our” money.

[TheDoctorIsIn]

@Eagle-Keeper

Clearly I should have better explained where I was going with this thread. The intent was for more of a dialectic. For example, I have/had friends and neighbors who are liberal who I get along fine with and have had political conversations with and have found much agreement with. By and large I have not found that on internet forums and personally I believe it’s for the reasons I post in the OP. In other words why do we disagree?

The reason why you have liberal friends that you can get along with in real life, but can’t seem to accomplish the same on the internet is because in person, your instinct is to find similarities and get along, whereas the impersonal user names on a messageboard doesn’t trigger that same instinct.

I guarantee that if you actually put the effort into finding similarities rather than picking fights - which is what we’re actually all here for - you’d be able to find endless similarities and agreements here too.