Progressive and Conservative Perspectives

Progressive and Conservative Perspectives

This is a summarization of concepts for Thom’s and others:

The distinction really boils down to a few elemental beliefs:

Conservatives believe that there is a ruling class and that it should and has every right to rule. Above all, inherited wealth and power define the right to rule.

Progressives believe that the U.S. is a place where the law and justice rule rather than such men as kings, CEOs or the hereditary rich.  Progressives wrote: "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defen[s]e, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity" did “ordain and establish the Constitution for the United States of America".

Conservatives believe that people are evil by nature and must be controlled. This is why we spend more on the prison industry and the military-industrial complex than we do on public education and social services.

Progressives believe that people are neither all good nor all bad and should be given the opportunity to develop themselves to the best of their abilities.  Providing the foundations for a productive life promotes this belief without removing the need for personal responsibility.

Conservatives believe that property rights trump individual rights.

Progressives believe that an individual's rights trump property rights.

Conservatives believe that it is everyone for him- or herself and “devil take the hindmost.”  This is the basis for the myth of the Free Market—which has never truly existed. This is especially true of education; if all education were private then the uneducated masses (those not able to afford an education) would be easier to control and cheap to employ.

Progressives believe that there exists a “Commons” that we all support and from which we can expect essential services, e.g., public education, public health and safety services, public transportation systems (highways & bridges), public lands and parks. This Commons is made up of all of those things that as individuals, we cannot provide for ourselves, so we all contribute our resources—e.g., taxes—to have others provide them for us.

In short it comes down to, "are we a ME society or a WE society?”: Michael Moore's ending question in his movie Sicko

Summarized by J.J. Hayden 2010 AKA Speaker