General Discussion Thread - Juche 113, Week 17
General Discussion Thread - Juche 113, Week 17
Welcome again to everybody! Make yourself at home. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is the weekly discussion thread.
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Are conservatives actually also libs? They're also proponents of capitalism and are idealists, but are they really just conservative liberals? I can see how they would be, cons also believe in nebulous ideas like human rights, they just don't even pretend that they should be extended to the out-group.
yes, both "liberals" and "conservatives" in USian terminology are liberals
I don't mean Dem/Repub. I was more just curious if there was some philosophical backing, like a (even more) conservative Bentham. It didn't seem correct but I also didn't want to call a Republican a lib and have them somehow know that no no I'm wrong cus reasons. Idk
Roughly, a liberal is someone who believes in the right to private property and prioritizes individual rights over collective rights. I've never heard of a conservative (in the context of capitalist countries) who didn't fit this definition
I wouldn't worry about that. Most libs don't read theory and the ones who do openly admit to one label or another. Classical liberal, neoliberal, etc. Conservative liberals like to be specific about which one they are. 'Progressive' liberals are sometimes specific – that's mostly the politicians, the policymakers, etc.
The average voter, including the academic liberal, tends to be general and to use the word in this fluffy way that somehow means progress but without stopping global exploitation. These are the ones who can themselves liberal and think they know what it means but completely fail to understand the implications. They're at most danger of cognitive dissonance because there's no way to square the contradictions. That said, even 'conservative' liberals tend to dismiss accusations of their racism; there's almost always a 'but …'.
Neither the classical liberal nor the neoliberal nor the social democratic Keynesiam liberal care much about the out group, though. It's all there in the main works. They just don't like being called out on it. But you try to explain how all those cheap items end up in the western supermarket and reverb the most progressive liberal will start hand-winging.