Liberal vs Conservative

Which are you? More specifically which would you rather be, a Conservative or a Liberal?  Here are the definitions from Dictionary.com: 

Conservative:  Disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.  

Liberal:  Favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs. 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.  

Using the definitions above lets examine the events of history and who might have been identified how. 

How about the American Revolution.  Was it Conservatives or Liberals that boarded the tea ships and tossed the tea overboard?  Was it Conservatives or Liberals that signed the Declaration of Independence?  Not everyone was in favor of American Independence and they were called Whigs. Were they Conservative or Liberals?  Using the above definition I would call the Whigs the conservatives and the people who dumped the tea overboard Liberals. 

The Civil War and the question of Slavery.  Was it Liberals or Conservatives that advocated the abolition of slavery.  Was it Liberals or Conservatives that established the Underground Railroad that offered escape to thousands of runaway slaves.  Give the above definition it was most certainly liberals.  Of course you might say it was an act of Liberalism for the Southern States to leave the Union.

A woman's right to vote. It was not until the early 20th Century that women obtained the right to vote.  Was that a Liberal thing?  I think it was as the Conservatives fought against it.

The Social Security Act and Medicare.  Who fought for that and and fought against it?  I think we all know.

The Equal Rights Amendment was definitely not the result of a Conservative movement.  Just the opposite I would think.  I don't think the John Birch Society nor the KKK was very liberal. 

Over the past view years radio talk show hosts and others have turned the word Liberal into something bad.  They even spit it out when they say it, you know they give it a little different connotation to the word in their speech.  As usual Liberals have even backed off the use of the word when then describing themselves and now in a lot of cases use the word Progressive instead.  Can you imagine a Conservative changing the word describing themselves because of the way Liberals refer to them. I think not. 

 

 

 

 

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