Conservative vs. liberal

Russell Kirk was an American political theorist, conservative intellectual, historian of ideas, social critic, and man of letters, who is best known for his role in the American conservative movement.

Numerous differences exist between conservatives and liberals. This article compares the two ideologies.

Liberalism and conservatism are two opposing ideologies of two different words, one of which is much smoother with its "-ism" suffix. While there are no definitive or official texts for either, it is usually believed that liberalism connotes the belief that new is always better than old and that history is irrelevant to the present, while conservatism states just the opposite.^[1] It could also be described that liberalism is the force of change, and conservatism is the force of preservation.^[2] However, in a society in which very much change is the spread of perverted beliefs, diminishing morals, and deceptive indoctrination, it can be that liberalism is the belief which supports such things, and conservatism that which seeks to keep peace and righteousness, even if that does become the change that occurs.^[3]

Both sides, as ideologies, enjoy claiming to be the force of reason.

In American politics, parties are often generalized as supporting one cause or the other, and labeled as red or blue. The two ideologies are also made linear by the use of the terms "left" and "right." This is illustrated by the chart below.

See also: Conservative

Conservatives often wished to be defined as something other than the opposition to the more visible force of liberalism, not to be the background on which it occurs. If conservatism were to define itself as an ideology, it would likely be related to certain more defined ones, such as the Judeo-Christian doctrine expounded in the Bible, the idea of classical liberalism as supported by Socrates and Plato but not Aristotle, and the principles of such men as the modern conservatives Edmund Burke, William F. Buckley, Jr., or the scholarly Christian ancients St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.^[4] Other notable American conservatives include Donald Trump, Clarence Thomas, Phyllis Schlafly, Larry McDonald, Patrick Buchanan, Steve King, Tucker Carlson, and Ann Coulter. Conservatives outside the U.S. include Nigel Farage, Matteo Salvini, Jair Bolsonaro, Santiago Abascal and José Antonio Kast.

Conservative values

See also: Conservative values

Conservatives support the nation-state and national sovereignty as important principles, along with strong immigration laws. They support constitutional originalism and textualism and oppose judicial activism. They generally support the encouragement of Christian and patriotic values in the United States, capitalism and the free market, and the right to bear arms. Conservatives typically believe that the only couples that can bear children are those of a man and a woman, and that thus the union between them is sacred.^[5] To conservatives, who reject junk science, gender in humans is determined by the presence or lack of a Y-chromosome.^[6][7]

See also: Liberalism and Liberal

Barack Hussein Obama was one of the most liberal presidents in the U.S. history.

Liberalism, if it is all the ideology that supports change, has no consistent ideals throughout history, but this does not bother it, as it generally ignores history. Identifying its particulars cannot be done based on the literal meaning of the word, "the belief in freedom," because in the present context, liberals often suppress freedom of speech, freedom of the Second Amendment, and in the case of recent judicial activism, the freedom to use executive powers granted by the Constitution and to fulfill one's duty to protect one's country. While the drafters of the Constitution are often regarded as liberals, as they were in support of change and freedom, their ideology is often in conflict with the liberals of today.

Liberal values

See also: Liberal values

In a present context, the liberal, or left-wing, stance on current issues is as follows:

• Liberals support big government and the Nanny State
• Liberals support open borders and globalism, and are friendly toward the concept of "global governance"
• Liberals oppose the right to life for unborn children, yet conversely oppose the death penalty for convicted murderers
• Liberals support homosexual "marriage" while seeking to destroy the institution of marriage altogether
• Liberals support a subjective "Living Constitution" ideology over an originalist/textualist philosophy
• Liberals oppose parental rights and seek to usurp those rights, destroy the family and replace it with big government as the minder and primary educator of children
• Liberals oppose homeschooling and school choice, yet have no desire to reform the broken and corrupted public education system
• Liberals oppose the right to keep children safe from pornography
• Liberals support legalizing all forms of mind-numbing and mind-altering drugs and chemicals on the federal level
• Liberals support "affirmative action," i.e., the granting of special "rights" to minority groups and women
• Liberals oppose the Second Amendment, Tenth Amendment, and support restrictions on the First Amendment against conservatives
• Liberals worship the devil

See also: Religious conservatism and politics and Culture war and Religious right and Desecularization

Religious conservatism is a big driver of social conservatism. Religious conservatism is growing in the world and it is affecting politics (see: Religious conservatism and politics).

An unborn child in the womb. Liberals believe that the unborn child has no right to life, while they hypocritically oppose the death penalty for murderers and conversely believe that criminals should have more rights than the people they victimize.

The Birkbeck College, University of London professor Eric Kaufmann wrote in his 2010 book Shall the Righteous Inherit the Earth? concerning the United States:

At a conference, Kaufmann said of religious demographic projections concerning the 21st century, "Religious fundamentalism is going to be on the increase in the future and not just out there in the developing world..., but in the developed world as well."^[9]

A Muslim interviewed by a British journalist said she thought homosexuals "are a lost cause".^[10]

• Similarities between Communism, Nazism and liberalism
• Nationalism vs. globalism