Liberalism stood for some fairly solid ideas; ideas like liberty and equality were the core pillars in the liberal worldview. We owe our core beliefs in this country to liberalism; after all, liberals promoted ideas like fair and free elections, civil rights, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free trade and one of the best ideas of modernity, private property. They fought and rejected oppressive ideas like monarchies, hereditary, privilege and the Divine Rights of the Royalty.
Today, liberalism is still associated with ideas of equality and freedom, but the semantics surrounding each have changed. Liberalism sees government as the panacea to most social ills, justifying the need for more government. Liberalism justifies higher taxes as a means to equality. Freedom is still important, but freedom, inside liberalism, has really become another means to equality.
Conservatism tended to root itself in the status quo. The main tenet of conservatism was the retaining of traditional social institutions, no matter their current condition. A conservative used to be someone who was averse to change and held strongly to tradition values, often avoiding innovation simply because it lead to change. Conservatives believed in the traditional powers of government and royalty. They were often content with the current social structure mainly because they were the rich and wealthy inside those current structures.
Today, conservatism is associated with ideas like family values, capitalism and individual rights. Most conservatives believe less government is best; they promote individual rights, a capitalist economy and traditional family values. Conservatism is also associated with second amendment rights, property rights and the rights of individuals. These all seem like solid ideas, but the real issue with today's conservatives is that most of them do not embrace all of these ideas in consistent ways. Some embrace certain issues more than others, which ends up fracturing their foundation.
Now, both sides will have plenty of items to add to my two lists, but that is not my point in this post. My point is this: each needs the other in order to be what they are suppose to be, but what are they suppose to be? Well, they are suppose to be... equal. Both parties used to stand for solid ideas; the differences in the two were which ideas were most important to you. What we have today is both parties working hard for their own party with their ideas being ideas that are grounded in their own party betterment and future. Does one party's position on an issue represent you or me, or does it represent the party?
Go to your preferred party's website or your state senator's website and see how many views actually represent you. I mean really represent you and your well-being, and your right to liberty and your right to the pursuit of happiness. I am not talking about those that you agree with in philosophy. I am talking views that are actually about you. Prepare to be disappointed. Your party and my party are, like it or not, egocentric... and that means one very important thing; neither party is doing what they were elected to do... work hard for you and me. And, we have only ourselves to blame. Cheer up! There is another election right around the corner, and another chance to correct our mistakes. The only question is will it still be important to us when November rolls around? We, Americans, tend to be very pragmatic and very forgetful. For the sake of my children and your children, let's hope we vote for our children's future and not our immediate comfort this election.
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