Difference Between Liberals and Conservatives

[Mr Khan]

HappySqurriel said:

Mr Khan said:

That would make sense, because conservatism necessitates an emotional attachment to something that is or was, hence something to "conserve," whether that's nostalgic values of '50s Americana, a system of cowboy capitalism dating to the industrial revolution, various religious norms that were foundational to the country itself, or on the darker side, yearning at various times for a time when the country wasn't overrun by Hispanics, Asians, free-voting Blacks, Jews, Polish, Italians, or Irish

You have to be emotionally invested in the idea that "time x was good" or "y aspect of today is good, don't destroy it," which can have rational underpinnings, but is still primarily motivated by your liking for it as a thing good in itself

For the most part, classical conservatism is dead and what we call conservatism is classical liberalism; at the same time, most of what we call liberalism today is a combination of the progressive movement from the first half of the last century and social democratic values from Europe.

Liberal and conservative is all relative, hence why the classical definition is no longer valid (or has shifted to other names, hence classical liberalism becoming libertarianism or objectivism). Like in the Soviet Union, when the country was unravelling, it was the hardcore Communists who were the conservatives, and the free-market, pro-nationalist, pro-religion folks who were the liberals (closer again to classical liberalism, but still...), but the constant for that is that the conservative wants to preserve the "old" order or some aspect of it. It's when you take them out of context that their political classification changes, and then the ability to evaluate them psychologically becomes more of a chore (given that if you picked up an American Conservative Republican from the '50s and dropped him in the Soviet Union in the late '80s, his values would make him a Liberal of that time and place, but his psychological state would remain the same)