Debate Room

[Micteth-Son of Udas]

Hey guys i thought that people would like to debate things here if enough people want to ill come up with a topic almost every week, they will be on Global topics, not something local to anyone area. please let me know what you guys think.

[IntrepidIsMe]

This is more World News oriented. Moved.

IntrepidIsMe

[Hitchhiker]

Zeke did something very similar some months back. It worked quite well until the topic base ran dry. But I'd be up for it again as long as we can keep moving from topic to topic in one long run-on sentence so that you--

Sorry, I slipped into Quote-Picard moment there.

[Lord Borg]

Sure, It would be interesting to have some debates. I'd participate

[Micteth-Son of Udas]

cool. ok well i was thinking maybe we should start with an ID debate.

[IntrepidIsMe]

We already have one of those,

[Micteth-Son of Udas]

true.... well um..... let me think of a topic, any ideas ppl?

[Seven of Nine]

What do you think conservative and liberal actually mean? Seems people have differing ideas in here

[LightningBoy]

Liberal = raise tax and have more programs.
Conservative = cut taxes and have less programs.

Social policy per each group varies wildly, per country. This creates confusion. I believe Liberal and Conservative should be used strictly for fiscal policy.

[Hitchhiker]

I would have to agree. Point in fact, our "Liberal" Party of Canada is actually quite moderate, only slightly to the left of centre, but would be considered quite Liberal in the U.S. Also, our "Conservative" Party of Canada is the right-most federal party with seats, but in the U.S. they would practically be considered on par with the Democrats. Moreover, Members of Parliament won't stop at switching sides if it suits them--the Liberal and Conservative ideologies are close enough that I know my city's former mayor, who is now an MP, switched from running for the Conservatives to running for the Liberals, and Belinda Stronach, a Conservative front-liner, switched to the Liberals and got a cabinet post!

In general terms, a social "liberal" is one who constantly pushes for change in society, often trying to make it more or less flexible in order to expand people's freedoms. "Liberal" social values dictate a more orderly economic policy, but this restricts people's "economic" freedoms.

A social "conservative," on the other hand, does not necessary push away change. Sometimes change is required, especially if it means reversing a change a liberal has made. Conservatives want to stick to a core social ideology, which is one of the reasons that churches are often described as "conservative," or why older people are more "conservative" than rebellious youth--because as one gets older, one is less likely to want to see the world change around them. The "conservative" social values embrace a more competitive and enriching economy than a "liberal" society would, however this has the effect of curtailing "personal" freedoms when someone falls short of the economic benchmark.

I can offer up one more insight that I've generally gained. "Socially," those with "liberal" values tend to see their ends achieved more than those with "conservative" values, simply because human society's nature is to change, for better or for worse, it is not static. On the other hand, "economic conservatives" are more likely to see a successful institution of their fiscal policies because humans are naturally competitive.

Obviously these are very simplistic and general expressions, notice the "quotation marks." It is called a spectrum for a reason, because someone could be a very social conservative but have a more liberal economic policy. One of the reasons it's become so generalized is because of the sweeping political parties. Much like religious institutions, political parties attempt to bring in as many like-minded people as possible under one platform. This can be disconcerting for the rightist people in the left party and the leftist people in the right party, and it causes conflicts. I agree that it's more or less asking for trouble if the terms "liberal" and "conservative" are used in an application of social policy.

[Micteth-Son of Udas]

seems this is our frist debate, what is liberal/conservative to you. this debate will go on till the 6th of october

I beleive conservative is when a person wants to keep things the way there are or go back to older ways, while liberal wants changes made.