Lib er al -adjective

Lacking moral restraint.

Therefore, all criminals are Liberals.

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Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. ---P. J. O'Rourke

I would say that the strongest component of any sort of conservative philosophy is a desire to preserve the status quo, or at least to approach change with caution and make that change only when deemed absolutely necessary. This can apply to someone being 'conservative' with finances or other non-political things in their lives as well. The conservative tends not to be a risk-taker and is probably more deliberate when it comes to considering the consequences of his actions and weighing all possible outcomes.

I'd say the term tends to get co-opted in the specific when it comes to politics. Since this is an American board, you get a lot of Americans describing themselves as 'conservative' because they identify with the values of others who describe themselves as conservative (rather than considering what the word implies in a larger sense). The same can be said of 'liberal'. However, I'd imagine this applies pretty much anywhere with some kind of political system. Given the fluid nature of political issues, political descriptors also tend to be fluid.

I once heard someone make the argument that this process occurred more rapidly in the US because the US two-party winner-take-all system lends itself more toward both parties pretending to espouse values that they do not actually espouse, thus leading to cognitive dissonance among followers. This dissonance then translates into the terms that they use to describe politics. I haven't given that a ton of consideration, but I think it's an interesting discussion item.

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

Pretty good and I tend to agree but I will say your average "conservative-republican" is a risk taker.

All capitalists are "risk takers."

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They risk their money, not their souls.

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Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. ---P. J. O'Rourke

Sometimes it because they don't want to put in the effort. Sometimes they can't see the benefit of making any change.

I work in manufacturing, and I sometimes get involved with improvement projects around the plant. I wish I had a nickle for every time someone has said "because we've always done it this way". When someone has been performing an operation the same way for ten or twenty years, they really can't see the benefit of changing it. Right now, they can just sit there and perform their job with almost no thought, like being on auto pilot, because they've been doing it the same way for so long. When someone comes along and offers a different (and more efficient) way of doing it, they may not be too keen on the idea. You're asking them to step out of their comofort zone and actually think about the job they're performing. Some people would rather not change their current method, while others will be more open to the new ideas.

I'd say it's possible to be conservative in one's politics and a risk taker in one's personal finances. For instance, if I am a well-financed venture capitalist, I am certainly a risk-taker with my personal finances. However, I may be a fiscal conservative when it comes to proposed changes to raise taxes on investment or on income in higher tax brackets. I can oppose certain changes to the status quo, even as a risk taker. This especially makes sense when it comes to opposing changes to a system that has rewarded my risk taking.

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

One dictionary definition of Liberal I agree with is generosity. They're very generous with other people's money.

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Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. ---P. J. O'Rourke

Preserving the status quo does appear to be a primary component of conservativism. Your analysis with regard to risk aversion is valid. But are there any other reasons why they would want to preserve the status quo? How does a conservative come to the conclusion that change is "absolutely necessary?"

now THAT's sig worthy

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"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine

It's scientific law!!

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+1

I see this constantly in my line of work. The point of writing software for customers, in a general sense, is to automate various processes of theirs and save them time and money via increased efficiency. As a designer, I frequently have meetings with prospective users/customers where I sit down with them and they explain their business process to me (this is called "requirements gathering" in software design lingo), while I suggest ways to automate that process.

These conversations frequently devolve into perpetuating existing processes that we're theoretically looking to replace. I'll say to a customer, okay, so you want to be able to print a large group of invoices all at once. They'll respond with something like, "Well, what we need is for the software to make it so that you hit F12 3 times, take the file that it makes, open it up, delete these 8 lines, copy it to this other file, put it on a floppy disk, and then put the floppy disk into this 10 year old computer that prints invoices." I don't say this, obviously, but what I want to say is, "no - that's your retarded and inefficient current process that you're paying me to replace. What are you actually trying to do?"

I've found in my experience that there are two types of employees - there are employees who want to earn a paycheck with the least amount of thinking or change and employees who want to make things better/more efficient/more productive/etc. The first type is a lot more common than the second.

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

I'd say it varies from person to person. For some, it might be a "gotcha" - they'll claim to be open to change if someone makes a good case for it when, in reality, they will never be open to change. For some, it's a matter of personal interest (change is necessary when I benefit). For some, it's a matter of ethics or social conscience.

There are probably as many heuristics as there are conservatives.

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

well i don't know where you got that definition, but this is from the same website (dictionary.com) that i got the conservative definition:

lib⋅er⋅al  /ˈlɪbərəl, ˈlɪbrəl/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [lib-er-uhl, lib-ruhl]
–adjective

1. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.
2. (often initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.
3. of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism.
4. favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.
5. favoring or permitting freedom of action, esp. with respect to matters of personal belief or expression: a liberal policy toward dissident artists and writers.
6. of or pertaining to representational forms of government rather than aristocracies and monarchies.
7. free from prejudice or bigotry; tolerant: a liberal attitude toward foreigners.
8. open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values, etc.
9. characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts: a liberal donor.
10. given freely or abundantly; generous: a liberal donation.
11. not strict or rigorous; free; not literal: a liberal interpretation of a rule.
12. of, pertaining to, or based on the liberal arts.
13. of, pertaining to, or befitting a freeman.

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"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine

A conservative is someone who is both socially conservative and fiscally conservative.

Someone who is fiscally conservative and socially liberal is probably a Libertarian, but they aren't either conservative or liberal. (I put myself in this category)

Its worth noting that neither party displays those characteristics. Republicans are fiscally liberal and socially conservative. Dems are fiscally liberal and socially liberal. This is ultimately why I don't get as pissed off at the dems, because I share at least one of their values (social liberalism).

generalization - definition of generalization by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

Physical law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You count 51 black folks in a group of 100 the group can and will be generalized as being "black."

Now, if their were 51 whites then that group would generalized as being "white"

Geez.

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