http://hubpages.com/hub/Libera...f-man-and-government
Why can't liberals understand conservatives?
I recently read an interesting op-ed, and it characterized ideologues vs commentators... And the person writing said that the difference between the two, is that commentators understand who they're talking about, and ideologues merely use the convenient point of disagreement to attack the opposition.
Which seems to be relatively accurate, in retrospect. One of the things that successful people know, first, is to know themselves, and then, to know what it is they face, in terms of opposition. Successful people DO things, and anyone who does something, faces opposition. If you want to make music, there's nor shortage of critics to tell you you're not not good enough. If you want to provide some service of some kind to consumers, there's no shortage of regulators to tell you what you must, must not, cannot, should not, do, none of which have any idea themselves how to provide whatever it is you wish to provide.
Thus, if you want to be in business, one of your fundamental needs is to know how badly you will get hurt by those who oppose you. Then, you need to know your competition. But before you even start, you need to know what it is you want to do, and your ability to do it. It boils down to, know your self, then your opposition, and finally, your competition. If this seems redundant, it's simply because I want to stress the point that conservatives DO make great efforts to understand the nature of those who oppose them, while those who oppose them couldn't care less what they're about, and instead, seek to convince others that whatever the issue is, is not one of analysis of effectiveness and competence, but one of moral defect, on the part of the opposition.
The liberal agenda is never sold on the basis of "redistribution causes productive people to be more productive", for instance, it's sold on the notion that "those who have too much are the fault of why you're poor or struggling, and to make it up, we're going to take it away from them."
In that spirit, a couple of people dared me to debate the merits of ideas. I'll predict right now, that no liberal WILL debate the merits of ideas, and instead, will simply resort to character assassination. And, not a one of them will even admit that good governance is one that makes the unproductive become productive, and the productive MORE so, and the successful, even more wealthy, and the unsuccessful, to also become more wealthy.
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