It is well-documented that liberals and conservatives behave differently. Those behaviors are genetically determined to a certain degree, and the environment also plays a role. The left is the aggressor in changing society based on their belief that things can be better. The right advocates for the status quo and traditions because it prefers change to occur slowly and carefully.
One point before we start deconstructing. Left-right differences are strongest among those at the edges of the political spectrum because their ideology is the most rigid. We all understand that those in the middle of the political spectrum do not embrace an ideology. Their views about issues are balanced between a left and a right tendency.
The years of the Biden administration were unique in American history because the implementation of a radical political ideology had never been attempted before. As you go through the trait comparison, understand that the gap is wider now than ever before. The radical left has silenced the beliefs and ideology of moderates on the left to implement the Biden agenda.
Let's start looking at the behavior on the left and its equivalent behavior on the right.
1. As I mentioned above, the left is attracted to and is comfortable with change, while the right prefers the status quo and is cautious about change.
2. Openness and conscientiousness are two components of the Big Five personality model, the accepted model for describing human personality. The other components are extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Liberals demonstrate more openness than conservatives, and conservatives demonstrate more conscientiousness. The other three elements are not correlated with political affiliation.
3. Liberals are group-oriented. They see American society as a set of groups: race, gender, sexual orientation, and economic class. Liberals believe the role of government is to meet the needs of groups, not individuals. Conservatives are individual-oriented and don't see grouping by physical characteristics as useful. They believe individualism is paramount because it gives individuals control over their lives.
4. Liberals believe that people are inherently good and things that happen to them are not their fault. If a person does something bad, they can be rehabilitated. Conservatives believe that some people are bad and cannot be rehabilitated. Liberals view incarceration as cruel and want people released as soon as possible. In recent years, they have supported the relaxation of criminal charges for minor offenses and no cash bail. They believe that society has unfairly treated certain groups, and those groups should be paid back by softening the rules.
Liberals have a similar view toward foreign affairs. If we are kind and polite to our adversaries, they will be kind and polite to us. The quest for power dominates the world, and that behavior requires strength to oppose it. Conservatives believe you have to fight fire with fire and strongly oppose regimes that misbehave.
5. Liberals view traditions as an obstacle to progress. They believe the Constitution is obsolete and needs to be replaced. The founding documents and those who created them were bigoted slaveholders who should not be respected. Conservatives honor the traditions that humans have lived by since they came into being: family, community, and religious beliefs. They are also patriotic and respect the nation-state democracy as the best political system.
6. Liberals believe they do not have control of their lives and they must rely on "experts" to guide them. They believe in a "big" government because government is the only entity large enough to solve society's problems. That belief ignores the fact that the government does a poor and inefficient job of fixing things.
Conservatives believe they're in control of their lives, so that means they can rise as individuals through their own efforts. Their ability to rise depends on the freedom they are allowed to exercise and the degree to which the government stays out of their lives.
7. Reliance on experts is fundamental to liberals. They think that experts can solve societal problems and do not accept the fact that some problems are too complex for anyone to solve. A practical example of this behavior was COVID, where liberals followed the guidelines of the CDC religiously. Conservatives followed the guidelines until it became apparent that some of the guidelines were wrong, and they started to believe that following illegitimate guidelines was an infringement on their freedom.
Conservatives accept the fact that many problems cannot be solved because they are too complicated. Guessing and trying to implement solutions for these problems is a waste of money and time. Conservatives like to make gut-level decisions rather than overanalyze an issue.
8. Liberals like to live in cities, while conservatives prefer suburbia or a rural environment. The likely reason for this is that big cities offer more variety, and liberals like variety and new experiences.
9. Some recent studies have shown that the average liberal has a slightly higher IQ than the average conservative. Various reasons have been suggested for those findings. Liberals enjoy this intelligence level status because they always think they have the right answers, and conservatives are always wrong. Conservatives don't care because they recognize that there is more to being a human being than intelligence.
10. Liberals believe equity and equality are requirements for a moral society. The inequality caused by capitalism is evil and must be corrected. Conservatives believe that a hierarchical society is the default human organization because not all humans have equal talent. Some must rise to the top through their intelligence, strength, or ability to manipulate others,
11. Liberals love political combat because they are dissatisfied with American society and are motivated to push for change. Conservatives want to live their lives instead of fighting. Conservatives have to be pushed very hard before they go to war. The Biden administration, with its radical agenda, was an example of conservative opposition.
12. Studies have shown that conservatives are happier than liberals. The explanation may be based on liberal feelings about inequality, which they observe in our society.
If this post seems one-sided, it appears that way for a reason. Because the left is always the aggressor about change, they have to bear the responsibility when the changes they suggest are irrational or impossible to implement. Secondly, liberals have allowed their party to be taken over by radicals, and the path the radicals want us to follow is totally wrong and should be vigorously rejected.
This article is not an attempt to blame liberals for everything while whitewashing conservatives. Conservatives have their own problems. They are rigid, inflexible, and need to be more humanist to understand and respond to the needs of the electorate. If we believe that liberals are moving too fast for change, then conservatives are moving too slowly.
Liberal and conservative behaviors exist to make man more adaptable. The maximum benefit to human society occurs when the two sides work together to achieve consensus. Consensus benefits all the American people rather than a minority.
Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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One quibble: the statement that liberals like change. Based on their reactions to Trump and DOGE, I’d say liberals like change only when they are initiating the change and it fits their ideology. The same can be said about conservatives, but the difference in my mind is that liberals like to break things that are working because they have an ideologically driven so called better solution, whereas conservatives like to break things that aren’t working.
This reads like the beginning of an excellent essay. I think I'll be reading your books next. Thanks!