this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2023
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I don't need explanations. I've spoken to a lot of conservatives, about a lot of topics. It's not that I don't understand. It's that we value different things. That we see the world differently.
Very abstractly, conservatives tend (and individuals are different so may tend more or less) to believe that hierarchy is natural, and unavoidable. That hierarchy simply is the way the world is. Progressives on the other hand tend to be more egalitarian, all are created equal and hierarchies are usually unjust and should be dismantled.
It's why there is such a consistent division of beliefs. Why people, if they hold some conservative or progressive values, tend to also hold other beliefs of the same categorisation. Where when new issues come up, we can predict with good accuracy who is going to take what stance, by answering the question: Does this move power up, or down, the hierarchy? Does this reinforce the hierarchy, or does it weaken the hierarchy?
It also explains seemingly contradictory conservative beliefs. It explains why the right-wing, who at their fringes host white-supremacists and who are represented in government by people who talk about "Jewish space lasers", are now supporting Israel and accusing people of antisemitism. Because Israel is higher in the hierarchy than Palestine. Their claims to care about antisemitism are laughably flimsy in context, they are lies propped up in front of the real belief.
I'd like to make a nuanced correction to your statement. You state that conservatives believe that hierarchy is natural and unavoidable, and progressives believe in equality. As someone who considers themselves a right leaning centrist, I think you're missing an important distinction. I believe that good people and evil people exist. I believe that hard working people and lazy people exist. I believe that kind people and selfish people exist. You can never have true equality in a progressive sense so long as those two sides exist. The evil, selfish, and lazy people will ALWAYS prey on the good, kind, hard working. It isn't that we fundamentally disagree with what progressives want, it's that we think they have an unrealistic utopian view. Sort of like how a child will say they wish for world peace. It's sweet and well intentioned, but misses the reality of the world. As a native Californian, I can tell you that many of these progressive policies you want have led to increased violence, property crimes, and a general reduction in quality of life across the board, not just for the people at the top, but for literally everyone.
You haven't actually corrected anything I've said. In fact you have reinforced it.
You're a conservative. You believe that there are different types of people, an us and a them, and that those differences are innate to people are. And so you don't believe equality is possible, so the hierarchy must exist, and thus you want to make sure that your group of people is higher up than the groups of people you disparage as lazy, selfish, and evil.
That is a fundamental difference in values.
And I think your political literacy is poor, and barely surface level. The conditions you speak of are not due to nebulous "progressive" policies, but to the vast wealth inequality your country as a whole, but California particularly, suffers from. California has progressive policies, but still does not address many of the worst of the issues.
You are suffering from the hierarchy. Because the people lower on that hierarchy are aggrieved with their living conditions, and thus cause unrest. The system is not working for them, so they do not respect the system in turn.
The difference between progressives and conservatives is that we disagree on what to do about that. Progressives want to flatten the hierarchy so that the disparity is smaller and the grievance is addressed, so that the system works for those people too, so those people can live full lives, and thus they have little motivation to destroy a system that takes care of them. Progressives believe that true peace comes from justice.
Conservatives instead want to maintain and increase the oppression on those lower down the hierarchy, so that they know their place. Conservative peace is enforced by beating the aggrieved down until they stop complaining.
Spoken like an elitist liberal. You'd fit right in in California.
You remind me of someone I once read about. They too believed in progressive ideals. They decided to hitchhike from Italy to the middle east in an attempt to share their message of love and peace. Three weeks into the trip they were raped, murdered, and left in a ditch. But I guess you're right, evil people don't exist, it's just those damn aggrieved saps at the bottom who don't respect the system.
You're right, there are certainly people who have been downtrodden by the world and become cold and callous, but there are also people simply born cruel. I've seen downtrodden people act with tremendous kindness/morality, and I've seen successful people act with tremendous evil/immorality. For you to pretend that bad behavior is simply a result of "the system" is idiotic and out of touch with reality.
What do you suppose led to the vast inequality? I'll give you a hint, it was elitist thinking and liberal policies. California is one of the most progressive states in the country. It's been that way basically my entire life. We charge more for everything (taxes, healthcare, energy, housing, etc) so that we can fund our progressive agenda. As a result our middle class has evaporated. Now we have only the poor and the insanely wealthy. Our progressive leaders know this, so they pander to the poor, giving them benefits to keep voting them in, and cut deals with the rich. They don't want to stigmatize anyone so they've stopped enforcing many basic laws. The rich aren't terribly impacted, they live in gated communities and have armed security. Instead it's everyone else who suffers. You acknowledge California has progressive policies that don't address the problems, yet you simultaneously dismiss them being the cause of the problems. What is your answer then? Let me guess... communism? That seems to be the answer everyone on Lemmy espouses.
Firstly, I'm not a liberal.
Secondly, what do you mean elitist? I'm literally suggesting the the dismantling of the hierarchy. My entire point of view is that concepts of elitism are inherently wrong. That criticism does not even make sense, it's a meaningless insult.
Please try read what I wrote, instead of just imagining my position.
I never said that people don't do bad things, and I never said that all unrest or violence would end, I never said that every person would become an upstanding member of society. But people are a product of their environment. People who have decent lives, who live in more equitable societies, have less motivation to attack those societies.
Don't fold me into your ridiculous black-and-white pattern of thinking.
Capitalism.
And is still capitalist, and still rather conservative on key issues, because your whole country is quite conservative at the federal level.
California is more progressive than much of the US, that doesn't make them actually progressive in a broader sense.
Gee whiz, it's almost as if they aren't at all as progressive as you think they are :)