Conserving the Rate of Decline
Conservatism wants to keep things the same. It seeks to conserve. Granted, many people use the term, conservative, to mean pushing toward positive change, but the basic meaning of conservatism has to do with conserving. Some things are good to conserve. Others are not.
In America, conservatism is not about stuff. Consumerism and materialism are part of liberalism. In fact, liberalism has made an art form out of envy, which is and out-growth of consumerism and materialism.
Some conservatives want to conserve the current rate of decline. Some want to slow the current rate of decline or even stop the current rate of decline. There are some who want to turn back the clock to the morality, the home, and government of 150 years ago. Some even want to establish the principles of the Bible. Such differences in mindset, yet we use the same label, conservative.
Some people are conservatives because they are Christians who believe the Bible and what it says about right and wrong, and some people are liberal for the opposite reason.
There are other ways that conservatism and liberalism are defined other than the way they are defined on this site. To argue about the meanings of words gets us nowhere. We don't have words that show the difference between all the different motivations and mindsets of liberals and conservatives. The labels may fit poorly, but words are a way to express ideas. A person who considers himself or herself a Christian and a Liberal may have a different definition of either of these words than the definition used on this site.
How can we know anything about anything? That’s the real question
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