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Conservatives Are More Dangerous to Freedom than Liberals
If freedom is what you seek then the conservative party sounds like a better option when compared to socialist liberals. Conservatives believe in small government by reduced taxes, cuts in spending, decreased regulations, and they fight hard for religious and gun rights. All of these have strong roots in liberty. Allowing the people to choose their religion that they want while defending their homes and business with their guns. They have even fought for the government to get out of healthcare. Liberals on the other hand demand higher regulations, increased taxes for the upper class, and gun control. How could one say that conservatives are more dangerous to the cause of freedom? It is simple: Conservatives are hypocrites.
Conservatives are hypocrites, because their principles that they stand on shift depending on what issue they are talking about. One of the most common issues that conservatives talk about are spending cuts. It is true that our country needs spending cuts. The latest budget that was past was for $1.1 trillion dollars. The United States is already in debt $18 trillion . All conservatives complain that we spend too much, but what they want to change is little compared to our debt. They will not touch the department of government that spends $615 billion a year. The military takes up almost 60% of our budget. To say that there is literally no waste is the military is as foolish as liberals saying that there is no waste in welfare. We currently have our troops in 130 countries with 900 bases. Clearly, this is not financially responsible, and yet conservatives will not agree with military cuts.
Along with the issue of military we have the current hot topic of torture done by the CIA. A report recently came out from a democrat that the CIA has been torturing people. Conservatives in general have been vocal about their support for torturing terrorist. As seen by the meme below that has been making its rounds on social networks.
Though this has not always been a conservative value. Ronald Reagan said, “Governments that must answer to their peoples do not launch wars of aggression. That’s why the American people cannot close their eyes to abuses of human rights and injustice, whether they occur among friend or adversary or even on our own shores.” It should also be noted that from that report there 1/4 of the people detained and torture were innocent. Small governments are not allowed to torture people, let alone people who have not be given a trial of their peers.
On the subject of CIA abuses we can look at the abuses of police officers in enforcing gun and tax laws. There have been three major stories in the news about police using lethal forces against citizens. In all three conservatives, in general, have favored the cops. Everyone can agree that there is a lack of evidence in the Mike Brown case.
The other two have clear video evidence. In the case of Eric Garner, he was selling cigarettes on the street. He was selling a product with no taxes and no regulation. Sounds conservative! Yet, the conservative populations defends the cop who enforces these rules. They say that the man should have followed the law! Clearly, by calling themselves the Tea Party and claiming the heroes of the revolutionary war they do not agree that immoral laws should be followed. The original Tea Party destroyed private property of the East India Company as an act of protest to increased taxes. In the revolutionary war the founding fathers literally killed law enforcers of their time. It is clear that today we are being exponentially more oppressed than they were pre-revolutionary war (higher taxes, more regulation, no privacy, and greater law enforcement violence), yet where are the conservative support to people standing up to the tyranny?
The final shooting that has been in the news is the murder of 12 year Tamir Rice. He was sitting in a park playing with a BB gun when police officer came up and shot him (VIDEO). As seen in the video the police officer shoots the child in a literal second that he sees the kid. His justification for shooting the kid was that he had a gun. In America we have a constitution and in that constitution it states that we the people have the right to keep and bare arms. Owning a gun or walking around with a gun is not justification for killing us. Let alone our children. Conservatives should be defending Rice for gun rights and Garner for tax and regulation reduction.
Along with supporting cops who kill people for having guns and not abiding by overbearing regulations, conservatives also support high cost and overbearing regulations on drugs. The drug war was started by the Republican, Richard Nixon. After 40 years, it has cost the American taxpayer $1 trillion dollars. This year we will be looking at spending over $40 billion on enforcing drug laws. The American taxpayer is paying for the food, healthcare, and recreational activities of 1.6 million of people per year that are arrested for drug crimes. What is a drug crime? Selling or consuming a product. People are literally being thrown in jail for hurting their own bodies. We don’t have to enforce laws for them to have consequences, the drugs will do that for them. Small governments do NOT regulate what we put into our own body.
Another common cry that is heard from conservatives is about religious freedom. The latest fight that they won was over Hobby Lobby paying for birth control. It is important that there be freedom between employees and employers. Yet, freedom of religion can become more personal than that. Freedom of religion means that a person is allowed to freely worship and express their religion as they see fit as long as they are not violating anyone else’s rights. If a particular religious or non-religious person defines marriage in a differently than it should be defended as an expression of freedom. This does not mean that a Christian has to agree with homosexuality it simply means that a Christian does not use the law to enforce their beliefs. Conservatives being for small government should either not allow the government to define marriage at all or they should fight for religious expression to be defended by the law.
One could argue that between conservatives and liberals, conservatives are more freedom based, but it is not true. That is why they are more dangerous than liberals. They mask themselves as being the people who want freedom. The people who say, “Don’t tread on me”. Yet, they hide behind big government just as much as liberals. They believe in using government to enforce their own beliefs. When it comes to marriage they want laws defending their beliefs. Gun rights are thrown out the door once police start enforcing gun control. Taxes and regulations are defended as long as they defend their business, but if someone else might profit from deregulation or reduced taxes then forget about it. Government is nothing without police and military and yet when fighting to reduce the size of government conservatives want to actually grow the police state. The insanity of it all is enough to drive someone crazy. A conservative who wants small government should fight for the rights of people to marry who they want, own whatever gun they want, grow whatever plant they want, and keep all the money they make without having government using police and military to restrict these activities.
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Kristopher Bowles December 16, 2014 , 12:11 am Vote0
I have recently been reflecting about things along the same lines as these. As a recent convert to an-cap thought, and having been raised in an extremely conservative household, it has been troubling to realize just how dangerous the ideals I was brought up to believe really are. It quite honestly boggles my mind how they seem to be such ideological hypocrites, and seem to so easily justify their hypocrisy even when it is quite blatant. I have been trying to figure out which would be a better place to to start and try to educate, Democrats or Republicans. Democrats being economically illiterate, or Republicans with their social/foreign/drug/etc. etc. issues. While I often engage both, I do wonder which side is more likely to actually listen objectively.
James Smith December 16, 2014 , 1:43 am Vote0
As annoying as lefties are, nothing they advocate is as obviously evil as when the neo-cons advocate an unlimited amount of death and destruction in the name of making the US look strong in the eyes of other nations. These people are supposed to be Christians?
Chip Marce December 16, 2014 , 2:42 am
Sorry Michael, I’ve got to give this article a thumbs down.
Your article, as most that attempt to pigeonhole people using a political label, falls short. Precisely because it violates an underlying belief of the liberty community: that we’re all unique individuals.
So you’re saying that conservatives sanction and approve of torture. Well, I’ve been called a conservative at times. I actually called myself a conservative until fairly recently when I decided to chuck the whole political label thing as stupidity cubed. So since I might plausibly be considered one of those rascal conservatives, does that mean that I approve of and sanction torture? If so it’s certainly news to me. And if I were to do a highly unscientific survey of self identified conservatives I know, I expect I would find a fair number who are equally surprised to learn of their longstanding approval and sanction of torture as well. And to think that I don’t even know anyone with a DIY waterboard kit or set of thumbscrews!
Trying to classify a huge group of people based on one label and hoping to draw any meaingful conclusions from it is a fool’s errand.
Jim Savell December 16, 2014 , 4:13 am Vote0
From Mitt Romney to Hillary Clinton, its all the same. There are very few anti-war people in politics at all, regardless of the party. They all support the same things but for different reasons. The problem with politics is that you have to appeal to the general public.
The ideas that those more liberty-minded mostly agree on are actually controversial to the general public. Those who identify to the State as a Republican are a very diverse group, whether for purposes of voting or to be an elected official. Rand Paul is very different from Jeb Bush in a lot of ways, and in some ways they are the same. We all know the word “liberal” has been morphed into the beliefs of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and others.
Attacking large diverse groups does nothing. It’s more important to identify individuals and to campaign against them.
PG (Pierre-Guy) Veer December 16, 2014 , 5:29 am Vote0
Yes, conservatives are hypocrites… But to quote a popular meme: When the government’s boot stomps your face, it doesn’t matter if it’s a right of left boot.
BOTH want our money, they simply waste it at different places
Michael Esch December 16, 2014 , 12:27 pm Vote0
I completely agree that both sides are willing to use violence to enforce their beliefs, my point was that conservatives hide behind phrases like “we want small government” and “dont tread on me” and “give me liberty or give me death”. These phrases are extremely deceiving when compared to liberals who dont care about the size of government and dont hide the fact they want to use force to promote their beliefs.
Kristopher Bowles December 16, 2014 , 6:36 pm Vote0
Chip, The Washington Times did an actual scientific poll recently and found that 54% of the public found torture to be justified, and an overwhelming majority of 82% of conservatives find it to be acceptable. Pew, ABC, CBS, YouGov and others have come up with very similar numbers over the years, always with a clear majority of conservatives in the ‘pro’ torture camp. What is odd to me, is the poll that showed people who regularly attend church were more apt to support torture as a means of information gathering. Seems to me, as a Christian, that is the opposite of what they should feel is appropriate, especially given the high percentage of people tortured who are found to be innocent of the suspected crime. So yes, while some conservatives/Christians may be against torture, the vast majority are fine with it. Their justification, coupled with the absence of almost any denunciation by their party leaders, to me, makes it quite alright to ‘pigeon hole’ the conservative republican party as pro torture. I don’t think classify them this way is a fools errand, but rather a fairly apt description.
Michael Esch December 16, 2014 , 7:37 pm Vote0
I grew up in much the same household. Though my family (minus my father) have all switched over to libertarian and/or an-cap. I think that it is easier for a conservative to switch than a liberal, but that is just from personal experience. This is why I went after conservatives, I believe that they are most likely to change when they see the error of their logic.
Michael Esch December 16, 2014 , 7:39 pm Vote0
That is the biggest kicker for me! I am a christian and it is appalling to see people advocate for torture during the week and condon violence and crucification on Sundays. I dont see how someone can believe in loving your enemy and then take that to mean torture and massacre them, but lovingly.
Michael Esch December 16, 2014 , 7:44 pm Vote0
I am sorry that you did not like the article. My idea was to provoke thought among the conservative groups and friends. Not everyone who identifies as a particular group believes everything that the majority in that group does, but as Kristopher pointed out there have been many recent studies that do show people who self identify as conservative do support torture. That is why in the article I use the term “conservatives in general” or “the majority of conservatives”. The idea is not to pigeonhole them, but to make them aware and give a conservative argument to be against them. This is why I end all the sections with “A small government would not….”. By providing a conservative argument against this ideas my hope was to end the ideas that are percolating through the liberty movement.
Michael Esch December 16, 2014 , 7:48 pm Vote0
My point was not to change people’s minds right away from reading this article. Most people on liberty.me agree when it comes to police brutatitly, taxes, torture, and marriage. Many of my friends, family, and groups that I am part of have conservative values. When reading this they on the most part will disagree, but in the next coming weeks they will see the violent posts that are promoted by tea party, right wing, and conservative social medias. My hope is that that seed will grow and they will start to speak out. The voice of reason and peace needs to be heard in the conservative right wing groups more than ever.
Chip Marce December 16, 2014 , 10:59 pm
As usual, I find the minority in the poll to be of more interest than the majority. 18% huh? OK, that’s 18% of 40% of Americans who consider themselves conservative times 242,000,000 adults which means there are 17,424,000 conservatives in the US whom I would probably be happy to share a beer with. Give or take. I think that’s a lot of people. I doubt I’ll be able to meet them all.
But enough of the math. To quote Thoreau on the morality of the thing: “Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one.”
PG (Pierre-Guy) Veer December 17, 2014 , 5:15 pm Vote0
Actually, if anything, conservatives would the ones more prone to big government. “The right” was the one that wanted to keep the monarchy during the French Revolution.
I get your point about their hypocrisy, but this theoritical belief in small government is rather new for the GOP
Robert Charlton December 24, 2014 , 11:30 pm Vote0
The only reason I would disagree with the idea that conservatives are more dangerous than liberals is because when conservatives are in power, the media actually does its job.
When those in office have an “R” behind their name, the media is much more likely to dig, investigate and oppose, thus fulfilling their role as the fourth estate.
When the letter is a “D,” the media is much more likely to act as a propaganda arm.
Journalism should be oppositional, confrontational, and relentlessly antagonistic towards the state. It is only then that they are doing their job. And this job tends to be done much more conscientiously when conservatives are in office.