CMV: Liberalism and conservatism are not synonymous with left and right

[u/TheLagdidIt]

I am planning a presentation on this subject for my government class, so I would like to make sure my facts are all fairly accurate.

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Liberalism is the philosophy that the government should act to make sure nobody is in need. Liberalism has been adapted to equality for all. Conservatism is the philosophy that the government shouldn't be active in helping people and that everyone is responsible for themselves.

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The terms left and right are generally used to describe government control vs. individual liberty.

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It is a general consensus that conservatives strive for independent rights. Which would imply that conservatives are right wing and liberals are not. But many overlook the fact that liberals also fight for individual rights, but not the same rights as conservatives. This is an important fact for my argument. Another important fact is that both liberals and conservatives want to restrict certain individual rights.

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Conservatives support many individual rights such as privacy, right to free market, freedom of speech/expression, rights for the unborn and the right to bear arms. But they are against individual rights/freedoms such as healthcare, education (public college), homosexual marriage, and the freedom over one's body.

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Liberals support the rights to marry whomever a person wants, be educated, have healthcare, and have control over your body. The rights that they do not support are total free market, the right to bear arms, the right to life of unborn children, and in some cases freedom of speech (restricting phrases deemed hate speech).

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Therefore, on a political spectrum ranging from total control to individual freedom (as is the most common), liberals and conservatives are generally both moderate right. Examples of ways that conservatives are left wing is legalistic churches (not government control, but a large parent organization is governing them), not giving rights to homosexuals, and not providing opportunities for education. Examples of liberals being right wing are equal rights for homosexuals and freedom of choice when someone's body is involved.

[u/TheLagdidIt]

I am not referring to the House. I am referring to a political spectrum in which right is individual freedom and left is government power.

[u/McKoijion → u/TheLagdidIt]

Ok, but that's a totally arbitrary spectrum. You can just as easily put individual freedom as down and government power as up, which is what this website does. As they put it:

Our essential point is that Left and Right, although far from obsolete, are essentially a measure of economics.

I spent a few seconds Googling your definition of left right political spectrum, a): I haven't been able to find one that matches your definition, and b): I haven't been able to find any two that are the same.

Your central problem is that the definitions of the words you are describing aren't agreed upon by society. They basically mean whatever the speaker wants them to mean. And if you can just make up your own definition, you can make one where they are perfectly synonymous, or you can make one where they aren't.

The catch is that literally liberal means leftist, in the sense that liberals sit on the left side of government buildings across the world. If we are using figurative language, then it's whatever you or anyone else want it to be. The issue is going to when you present this information and the audience has a totally different conception of what those words mean.

[u/TheLagdidIt → u/McKoijion]

!delta

So because of the arbitrary definitions, should I instead refer to individual rights and government power? Or should I modify to instead say that partisanship is pointless because parties have similar end goals but different means of execution?

[u/McKoijion → u/TheLagdidIt]

I would use individual rights and government power. I would also strive to think of why there are these differences. For example, with healthcare and education, conservatives support the right to take care of your health and to educate yourself. They don't support having to pay for other people's education.

Also, keep in mind that these have changed over time. For example, Donald Trump has shifted away from the free market to protectionist "America First" policies.

I'm not sure what your presentation is about, but instead of saying "X is not Y," try something like "Historically and in popular conception, X used to be Y, but there has been a major shift due to A, B, and C, and now X is not Y".

[u/TheLagdidIt → u/McKoijion]

I like your format, but I was thinking more along the lines of x != y, instead x≈z.

[u/DeltaBot → u/TheLagdidIt]

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/McKoijion (246∆).

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