In Defense of Liberalism and Rational Argument

I recently had the misfortune to come across this post on Facebook, shared from an anti-NDP page.

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be very liberal, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch conservative, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school.

Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?"

She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over."

Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That's a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the conservative side of the fence."

If you ever wondered what side of the fence you sit on, this is a great test!

If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one. If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat. If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation. A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels. Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church. A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and Jesus silenced.

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it. A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

If a conservative reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh. A liberal will report it because they are offended."

At the time, I wasn’t planning on writing any kind of response to it. However, after several days ruminating over the absurd nature of some of these ideas, the ridiculously oversimplified (not to mention easily arguable) story, and the fact that, frankly, it was downright insulting, I decided to come up with my own story and clarifying list for those who are unsure which side of the political spectrum they fall on. Here goes!

Alan was a man in his late fifties, recently retired and living off of a well-earned pension. Alan was a staunch conservative who’d lived his life despising liberal tendencies. The mere mention of wealth redistribution or social programs got his blood boiling. The way he saw it, he’d worked hard to support the life he lived and everyone else could damn well do the same! Why should he have to pay higher taxes so layabouts didn’t have to do the same?

This opinion was often a bone of contention between him and his daughter, a recent college graduate who considered herself very liberal. “She’ll grow out of it,” Alan often thought to himself, putting her ideologies down to the naiveté of youth.

One day, after listening to his daughter ramble on about the need for higher taxes on the rich to help support government programs, Alan interrupted her to ask about her grades in college. He then went on to use her hard earned grades versus those of a lazy student’s poor grades to illustrate the flaws of liberal thinking.

“Welcome to the conservative side of the fence,” Alan said, sitting back with a gentle smile, convinced he’d finally gotten through to her.

Alan’s daughter frowned for a moment, then looked at her father. “Dad,” she said, “how much did you save up towards my education?”

Alan replied proudly, “Your mother and I started a savings account when you were small child. We put a little bit into it each month and in the end we were able to pay for more than half your tuition.”

His daughter nodded. “Did it affect how you lived your life, giving up enough money to pay for half my tuition?”

“Well, no. It was only a little bit each month and we had plenty to spare.”

“But doesn’t conservative ideology dictate that one should keep everything they earn, that others shouldn’t get the benefits of your hard work, even if it is just a little bit each month?”

Alan was aghast. “Without my help you would have struggled a lot harder to put yourself through college. You might not have been able to achieve a degree because you would have spent most of your time working rather than studying.”

His daughter smiled. “Exactly. You gave me the boost to get me on my feet. That’s all liberalism is about: helping people to help themselves, not blindly awarding laziness. Being a liberal is about a willingness to help others when they are in more need than you are.”

“But you’re my daughter,” insisted Alan. “I’m not a liberal for helping you. Why should my hard earned money go towards helping some stranger out a situation they got themselves into?”

“Let me ask you this: if you saw someone drowning in the river, would you jump in to save them, even if it meant ruining your clothes, wallet, cell phone. You don’t know how they got into the situation – maybe they were being stupid, maybe someone pushed them, or maybe they just tripped. All you know is that they are in trouble and can’t help themselves. Would you help them?”

“Of course!” cried Alan. “What’s a wallet and a cell phone compared to someone’s life??”

His daughter leaned in and smiled. “Welcome to the liberal side of the fence, Dad.”

Liberalism isn’t about blindly rewarding laziness; liberalism is about the willingness to give up some of your own excess in order to help someone who cannot help themselves. Liberal ideologies suggest the wealthy be taxed higher because, relatively speaking, it does not make that much of a difference for them, while social programs make a world of difference for the impoverished. For a wealthy individual, a high tax bracket means their second car might have to be a 2013 Mercedes rather than a 2015 model. For an impoverished family, a welfare cheque can mean the difference between one and three meals a day. High taxes are an inconvenience for the wealthy; welfare can be a lifesaver for the poor.

But maybe you’re not sure if you’re a conservative or a liberal, so here’s my version of the helpful list from the original post!

If a conservative doesn’t like guns, he doesn’t buy one. If a liberal doesn’t like guns, he works to make sure that all individuals (both liberal and conservative) are safe from being killed by another person’s gun. The conservative doesn’t care so long as HE isn’t the one being killed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat meat. If a liberal is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat meat either. He may advocate the humane treatment of animals, but he will respect another individual’s choice to eat meat so long as the animals are treated right.

If a conservative is down and out, he thinks about how to better his situation, even at the expense of others. If a liberal is down and out, he may accept help from other liberals. Once he is back on his feet, he’ll go over and be the first person to offer the conservative help.

If a conservative doesn’t like a talk show host, he buries his head in the sand. If a liberal doesn’t like a talk show host, he seeks meaningful discourse and exchange of ideas. If those ideas actively perpetuate prejudice and hatred towards an individual or group, he may try to highlight the toxicity of such speech, often resulting in the host’s show being dropped when his ratings plummet.

If a conservative is a nonbeliever, he does not go to church. If a liberal is a nonbeliever, he respects the beliefs of all others (Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, etc.) and seeks to protect those beliefs. He asks that any organization or government representing more than one of these majorities respect the beliefs of all groups, remaining impartial and refusing to favour one above the others.

If a conservative is sick, he pays for health care. Unless he lives in Canada, in which case he gladly reaps the rewards of the system he criticizes. Or he gets a job that pays for his health care, and uses his coworkers’ money rather than the taxpayers. If a liberal gets sick, he is rewarded by the system he advocates. He then happily puts money back into the system to pay for the healthcare of others’, because they did the same for him.

The point I’m trying to make with this is that these things aren’t black and white. My examples are exaggerated and bias, just as those of the original post are, but they serve to highlight the absurdity of such broad generalizations and stereotypes. There are conservatives who act selfishly just as much as there are individuals who abuse liberal policies.

The nature of party politics creates an “us against them” mentality, which I think is patently absurd. Am I generally center-left in my views? Yes. Do I think everything the Liberal and NDP parties do is pure gold? Hell no, just as I don’t think the Conservatives are pure evil (though Stephen Harper is a different story…). My views may align with one group over another, enough for me to accept the policies I do not agree with, but that does not mean I respect or like those holding opposite ideals any less.

Posts such as these are silly and appeal to a simple way of thinking. They do not serve to create any meaningful discussion as they are composed almost entirely of blind rhetoric and hyperbole. I’m not saying that conservatives and right wingers are the only ones guilty of these tactics: god knows some liberals can be terribly subversive and simple in their arguments. It is a problem for all sides. If you do not agree with another individual or party’s point of view, have a discussion and make your case rationally. Do not result to petty insults and stereotyping. To do so betrays a simplicity of thinking, and, in my experience, probably means you don’t really have a very good understanding of theirs, or even your own, point of view.

This was a really long post so, as always, thanks for reading!