A Study in Contrasts...

Socialism is being seriously considered as an economic system in some camps these days, for the very first time...maybe ever.

And those who are doing the considering, in my erstwhile opinion, are the same folks who like the idea of getting anything and everything for nothing, as if they're owed it.  It seems they have never been taught - or refused to learn - that there's no such thing as a "free lunch."

Except for the fact that many of them have been getting a "free" lunch that the taxpayers paid for at the schools we taxpayers paid for since they were youts ("What's a yout?"), which we taxpayers likely paid for also, so why shouldn't they be confused now?

And so to try and iron out the differences between the two disparate camps, the "Progressives," who want to do the getting, and the "Conservatives," who are tired of doing the giving, i.e., the "makers" and the "takers," I thought I'd provide you, my loyal readers, with a little Chuckmeisterly Primer on the subject.  And, as a graduate economist of some repute, an entrepreneur and serial-taxpayer, here it goes...

Conservatives:

  -   Holding to traditional attitudes and values; cautious about change or innovation for its own sake, especially as regards politics or religion.  Prefers the "status quo" unless change is deemed absolutely necessary, and then only following careful consideration.

(a.k.a., "Republicans")

Progressives:

  -   Holds support for, or advocacy of, social and economic reform.  In general, means any political movement that wants to change government for the "better."  The opposite of conservatism.  

(a.k.a., "Liberals," "Socialists," "Communists," "Marxists," "Redistributionists," "Marxists," "Pinkos," "Extremists," "Weirdos," "Commies," "Takers," "Weenies," "Snowflakes," etc.)

In short, a Conservative is disposed to preserving existing conditions, or when necessary restoring traditional ones, and in limiting change without careful, deliberate consideration beforehand.

In other words, "safe vs. sorry."

A Progressive is disposed to change the existing system, whether political or religious, no matter how successful or well enjoyed it may be, into one that more fully mirrors their Utopian beliefs concerning "equality" and "fairness" and "social justice." 

In other words, "ready, fire, aim."

So, we have two disparate factions, each in an existential war with the other, with neither willing to moderate or negotiate its core beliefs.  And therein lay the problem...

I, The Chuckmeister, have an idea how we got into this problem and how we might dig ourselves out.

Conservatives, at least this one, believes that the foundation of our society and our Government and our way of life is memorialized in the Constitution of the United States of America.  It laid out the roadmap for us to follow.  And we've followed it.  To our own benefit and advantage.  At least, the vast majority of us have.  And at least up to now.

Conservatives in general favor small Government that stays out of our wallets, our bedrooms, our businesses, our religion and our lives.  We want the very smallest Government that can accomplish its necessary, Constitutionally-mandated core functions and absolutely. nothing. more.

But there's a major faction within our society that does not hold the Constitution dear.  A faction that does not consider its pronouncements as sacrosanct.  In fact, representatives of this faction seldom fail to mention that the Constitution is an old, musty "piece of paper," as Obama once derisively called it, that desperately needs to be updated.  Conservatives know the Constitution is a limiting document; it lays out exactly what the Government is, and what it can do, and what it can't do, and specifies that it is restrained from doing anything else.

Progressives, on the other hand, abhor that reality; they wish the Constitution to be a "living, breathing document" that means whatever we can torture it on any given day into meaning (classic example:  Roe v. Wade).  

Anti-Constitutionalists will tell you it's outdated.  It isn't.  Our Founders were worried that centralizing the Federal Government would give it too much power.  Thus, the Constitution limited the Government's powers; read the 10th Amendment if you doubt me.  

The Constitution basically tells us that the Federal Government has only four basic responsibilities: Mint our money, deliver our mail, protect our borders and function as an arbiter in disputes between the "several states."  

So far as I can tell, it's done waaaay to much of the first, and not nearly enough of the last three.    

But the crowd who's banging the drum to rewrite the Constitution are not pleased that its First Amendment seems to permit Conservatives to say Conservative things.  It wants to banish them.  To limit them.  To boycott them.  Notice?  How many times have the MoveOn-MediaMatters-MainStreamMedia crowd tried to put Limbaugh and Hannity and Fox News out of business?

And how many times have you ever heard a Conservative ask you to boycott anything?  Anything at all?  Even obvious hateful media outlets that make bank solely on anti-Conservative issues?

And this same crowd has it in for guns, Big Time!  They DO. NOT. LIKE. the 2nd Amendment!  They want to outlaw all guns and then confiscate them.  They don't seem at all concerned that the 2nd Amendment specifies clearly that they may not "infringe" on our absolute individual Right to keep and bear them.  They want them BANNED!  

And they're not happy with the 4th or the 5th, either.  In short, they just want this quaint old "piece of paper" either ripped up, or rewritten in a fashion more acceptable to Progressives.  

And therein lay the problem:  Conservatives are happy with our Founding Document.  Progressives are not.

In fact, as I go out the door, I'd like to offer that Progressives are the very most unhappy bunch in America today!  They're not happy with our POTUS, our capitalism, our immigration laws, our tax policies, our pro-life stance, our desire to protect ourselves and our incessant demand for a smaller, more responsive and less costly Government.  In fact, they just want to be left alone to live our lives...  

Damn, even if just for the sake of my mental health, I'm glad I'm a Conservative...