Verbatim Post
Recently a reader pointed out that I should stop writing
about what liberals believe because I couldn’t possibly know what they
think. The reader suggested that I should write about what conservatives
believe.
The first part of their suggestion is without merit, but the second is something I will attempt to do.
As I have pointed out repeatedly, conservatives
understand liberals more completely than liberals understand
conservatives. We have gone to school, read newspapers and been immersed
in other media, all of which have been controlled largely by liberals.
On the other hand, liberals remain in cultural enclaves and sneak out only occasionally to throw rocks or to study the natives.
As Charles Murray pointed out in his latest book, "Coming
Apart," the philosophical foundation for modern liberalism can be
summarized in three or maybe four points. In fact, it is almost always
possible to predict what a liberal will say or do about any topic in
advance and seldom be wrong, a phenomenon about which B.F. Skinner had
some interesting things to say.
So what do conservatives believe? In this limited space, I
will point out only those areas that make us most different from
liberals.
1. Human beings are generally responsible for the things
they do. Consequently, most people do deserve what they have gotten,
good or bad. It is not a matter of "winning life’s lottery." There is no
moral virtue requiring that the economically successful give over what
they have earned to the government based on the premise that they were
randomly successful. It is also not inappropriate to say that someone
may be lazy or irresponsible.
There are obviously exceptions, but a society that
operates on the basis that the exceptions are the rule will be poorer
and less able to care for those in need.
2. Properly designed government interventions cannot
correct problems of human behavior. A government is a creation of the
people, and will be no more capable or moral than the people who create
it.
Welfare states are designed in ways that violate basic
human nature. You cannot take away the incentives to work and expect
that people will not take advantage of this, even if the government
social engineers fancy themselves to be smarter than the workers.
Fathers will not continue to parent when the government
takes over the role of a father. Conservatives view those who believe
that these efforts would work, if only the government did it correctly,
to be extraordinarily naïve.
3. Conservatives state that it is an empirical fact that
people are not equal in their latent abilities and characteristics.
Suggesting, therefore, that the outcomes of life should be equal is
unwise and unnecessary. Significant differences between people and
groups of people do exist, and those differences can be both positively
and negatively meaningful.
Suggesting, for example, that discrimination exists
solely because two groups do not have the same percentage-derived
equality is not only statistical nonsense, but generally a violation of
reality.
As another example, the idea that all children should go
to college and obtain a degree is unrealistic and if implemented into
policy only destroys the value of the degree for everyone.
Cultural values are not equal. Some values such as hard
work, family solidarity, honesty and maintaining religious activity
result in more prosperous societies. That is not to say that one culture
is globally better than another, but in any given area of human
attainment, certain cultural values are better than others.
4. Governments are like a fire. You need what a fire can
do for you, but you want it to be as small and as controlled as
possible. Just as we may want the smallest possible fire that will do
the job, we want the smallest government possible that will fulfill the
required functions.
5. Free people are happier, more prosperous and more generous than government-controlled people.
6. Conservatives don’t believe that those who disagree with them are inferior, just wrong.
Mr Clayson is a (Conservative. I know... hard to believe) Marketing Professor at the University of Northern Iowa, my Alma Mater. This was his weekly editorial in yesterday's Courier. I thought it was pretty good.
Stay safe.