STARK CONTRASTS – PERMANENT?

by Ruth A. Sheets 

A friend was considering the juxtaposition of Progressives and Conservatives as to their world view.  It got me thinking too.  I compiled the following list of contrasts.  It is clear where my biases lie and I must admit I am OK with them.  We just got past 5 years of a blustering ignorant would-be autocrat whom Conservatives love, four of those years with him as president.  I’m thinking it’s time to move on. 

During those years, I felt Conservatives had taken over the airwaves and did a pretty good job of demonizing Progressives as OMG, Socialists, Communists, reverse racists, unpatriotic traitors, whiners, and more.  When questioned, on the rare occasion when they were, they couldn’t explain what they meant by these terms except to point to Bernie Sanders or members of “The Squad.”  

The following are the contrasts Conservative America has helped me to identify based on current and recent actions and speeches.  I would be interested to see a Conservative’S juxtaposition and how it differs from mine.   

PROGRESSIVES

- have empathy

- think about and plan for the future

- Are usually willing to hear other people’s ideas even if they don’t agree with them

- generally have thinking firmly based in reality

- Appreciate the contributions of science and think science and technology can make life better for all if employed effectively

- understand that a reasonable minimum wage is essential for fairness ($15 per hour at least)

- workers keep our economy strong and should be treated well, and unions can help with this

- see the government as a source of positive help for the people of the country

- believe people should be held accountable for what they do

- think groups should not be judged as a whole, even Conservatives

- know that racism exists and is systemic in our nation and want to do something to end it

- believe there are inalienable rights each person has including the right to choose. 

- believe their rights end where another person’s begin, therefore, for example, one gets vaccinated to protect themselves and others

- see patriotism as working to see that everyone in this country is treated equitably.

- think everyone is responsible to work to protect the earth in whatever ways they can

- believe men and women are equally valuable and should not be judged because of their gender or condition of birth

- see voting as critical for every citizen and that it should be easy for every citizen to do it

- feel public spending should be mostly for programs that serve the American people directly with defense and the military a much smaller part of the budget than it is now

- believe one’s personal integrity and how things are done matter 

CONSERVATIVES

- consider only what works for themselves and those like them

- Think the past was so much better than what is happening now, even though there is little to no evidence to support that thinking.

- Are so sure of their own ideas others’ ideas are rarely entertained

- often find themselves going along with words and actions that are not based in reality but keep telling themselves they are the ones living in reality

- like what science has brought to them to make their lives comfortable but don’t want science if accepting its findings makes them uncomfortable

- are OK with the minimum wage as it is now because if workers were really worth it, they would be paid more, in fact, for many workers, minimum wage is too high

- see workers as just tools to get a particular job done

- see the boss as king and workers are essentially slaves while on the job - if they don’t like it, they can leave and move on. (Amazon workers are subject to this thinking all the time)

- believe Reagan’s saying the “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” is the most frightening thing for an American to hear. 

- believe only certain people should be held accountable because true conservatives are always acting in the best interest of “the people.”

- think Black people are scary, “except for the ones I know”

- believe they are not racist, ever – Progressives are the racist ones and it is white people who are the real targets.

- believe they should decide what rights people have and those rights will be ones they are comfortable with and those other people may not even deserve those rights

- see a fetus is more valuable than any living woman or child

- believe if they don’t want to be vaccinated, no one should even try to encourage them to do it for the good of the people or any other reason

- believe patriotism is waving the flag and covering your heart when singing “The National Anthem,” and, of course, not “taking a knee” during a sporting event

- believe that since they pay for public services and utilities they can use as much as they want to and no one can stop them or even ask them to limit their use

- believe men in general and white men in particular should rule the home and pretty much everything else.

- see war and conflict in general as ways men can prove their manhood, and women have no right in the military

- believe if religious groups don’t like a particular type of person they should be allowed to “exclude them” from their businesses and their presence

- believe voting should be hard except for conservative white people who will vote the right way

- believe most of our government spending should be on the military and defense with service programs for the people, a minor part of the budget (except when they need something)

- believe the ends justify the means, even if it means lying, cheating, and making things up (like voter fraud)

I have been working to think of what Conservatives and Progressives have in common.  It was hard, but here are a couple of things.

- Family is important (at least one’s own family).

- The United States is a good place to live.

- People should be able to make a decent living.

- Utilities should be reliable.

- People should have the opportunity to advance in their career.

- people should be safe.

Even if we just started with these six points, we could perhaps find other commonalities.  I am only slightly hopeful because attitudes of each group toward the other right now are so negative it is hard to even get discussions going, let alone agreements of any kind.

That does not mean we should give up and let the chaos break out.  Conservatives had their four years.  It’s time for Progressives to have ours.  It will be interesting to see where our nation will be after four years with Progressives supplying the ideas and working to make them a reality.  We’ll see.