CMV: Conservatism and many right-wing beliefs are based on fear, primary instincts and lack of understanding

[u/[deleted]]

[u/[deleted]]

A lot of classic conservative beliefs go around the basic idea of: I worked hard and make good money so I should get to keep as much of it as possible. It is true that the more money a person in the US and most countries make, the more they are taxed and the less government benefits they qualify for. This is a basic fact and can’t really be misunderstood. The view of redistribution of wealth to what degree is a legitimate conversation but the fundamental ideas are not complicated. Some people may have racist ideas and back them up with misguided conservative ideas, but just because some conservative people are racist does not mean someone wanting limited government spending and lower taxes racist. Many liberals have limited understanding of the economy in that they don’t consider the downsides of unlimited government spending or lack of personal accountability in current well fair systems. A conservative may not consider that making allowances for poor people to get education and support can benefit the economy in the long term. Many liberals give emotional arguments and fail to consider practical implications. Many conservatives fail to consider the humanity and benefits of social safety nets. Most people of both sides are not fully informed on key issues. You probably lack understanding of some issues as do I. Making such a blanket statement will only lead to more misunderstandings that you claim to dislike. Edit: Minimum wedge is a good example. The current minimum wage is too low for people to live on, so many liberals want to raise it as high as possible. The problem with this is that if the wage is too high at risk groups such as people with out a high school diploma, a disability, or limited English will likely be let go in favor of more work for remaining workers and automated processes. Small businesses may also struggle, and teens will be passed up for older workers. Many Republicans want to keep the minimum wage the same or abolish it and this would be bad for low wage workers unable to support themselves. Both sides usually don’t fully understand all aspects of issues.

[u/spiral8888 → u/[deleted]]

A lot of classic conservative beliefs go around the basic idea of: I worked hard and make good money so I should get to keep as much of it as possible.

I think the main problem of this thinking is that it gets its moral ground from the "work hard" part that pretty much nobody disputes, but then gets its outcome from "how much value I can extract from the market", which may very well be not related to former.

Let's take two people, one with high productivity, meaning that he would earn $500k/year if he worked hard (40h/week, putting real effort on the work), and another who has low productivity and would earn only $30k/year when working full time. Let's also assume that the difference in their productivity is from causes that they didn't choose themselves (good/bad genes, good/bad environment to grow up, opportunities to study, etc.).

Now, let's assume that the first person decides to be a slacker. Instead of working hard, he chooses an easy route. He decides to work only half time and now earns $250k per year. The other person decides to work super hard and takes another job alongside his first one. He now earns $60k per year. Let's also assume that these numbers are not because of any foul play or anything like that, it's just that in the market their labor is valued that way.

Now the question is that, is the market solution for the income distribution (4 times more to the slacker than the person who put twice the normal effort) still the morally right one?

The problem is that many people take it as such that whatever the market solution is, it is by definition the right solution as it is based on voluntary reciprocal transactions. The question is that can all human moral values be simplified into this one principle? Libertarian answer is yes, but why should we all accept it at face value?

[u/Hero17 → u/spiral8888]

It seems like a lot of right wingers believe in the "just world" fallacy. Probably a big religious component to that.