Conservative Vs Progressive Governments

In a current interview, Thomas Sowell, an American economist and author and Senior Fellow at Hoover Institute, who turned 80 this year discussed his new book and suggestions in an interview. In his new book, Dismantling America: and other controversial essays. and in the interview he lays out his philosophy of government, which is the Conservative position of laissez-faire (significantly much less regulation) of financial activity and of government intervention of social values.

I've often admired Professor Sowell and have enjoyed numerous of his books, especially in the region of economics and his understanding of absolutely free trade which is based on no cost association and exchange. But as a 'former' Conservative for over 30 yrs I've come to the realization that the major distinction in between Progressives and conservatives is what they want the federal government to regulate. Pros want to regulate financial activity to create social outcomes of collective equality, justice and peace, though Cons favor to leave financial activity to a freer and much less regulated model but on the other hand favor to intervene into societal values with federal powers. My assertion is that social values and financial values work in tandem and responsd to open markets in equivalent approaches, and that to have a wholesome economy and 'values' wealthy society is to have significantly much less regulations and additional freedom of association and transaction.

The framers of our constitution in truth grappled with this and in their brilliance came up with a divided government that enumerate precise powers of the federal government which had been 'negative' concerning liberty and left all else to the States which may well be either 'negative' or 'positive' liberty, but warned against the latter. Negative Liberty is like Adam's relationship with God in the garden, "All else you are totally free to do, but remain away from this tree" vs God's relationship with the Israelites via Mosaic Law, "these 613 laws you Need to carry out to qualify". JS Mill place Negative Liberty this way in his Harm Principle, "That the only objective for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to stop harm to other people. " As Jefferson stated, "The very best government is the One that governs least." Doesn\'t it make sense that if you or I can barely (a least we feel) regulate our personal houses, then why would we consider far more power in Washington, DC would permit for superior regulatory outcomes.

Also, with the exceptional personalities, talents and physical demands from house to house, wouldn't it make sense that how you govern successfully may well be unique than how I would in my house? Managing from 30,000 feet is considerably much less helpful and may be dangerous and counter productive versus managing close and on the ground. The framers understood this, and looked to a number of sources and historical events to conclude that 'macro government' Need to be negative in its application of law (like the garden) but that States and their local precincts may possibly experiment in positive liberty. So problems like marriage, drugs, land rights, banking, and so forth, they left to the States to make a decision. The essence of the Constitution was to limit power and maximize liberty, but to let the Federal Government to step in when those liberties have been violated, the powers left to the States depending upon each and every State's Charter or Constitution allowed for them to 'dabble' in positive liberty to regulate particular values - but forewarned them to proceed at their very own peril.

Christopher M. Mahon
http://www.ambidextrouscivicdiscourse.com

The Ambidextrous Civic Discourse web site is a put exactly where you can locate data about financial, philosophical and political problems that challenge those on the 'right' or the 'left'. Here you can uncover classics on the subjects said above that contrast differences like Keynesian vs Classical Economics or the function of government - Negative vs Positive Rights. You\'ll also be in a position to gain a far better understanding of the Two huge political parties and the progressive and conservative movements. We also have a study plan, ACD Studies that enables for open discussion on it\'s weblog to read and exchange suggestions with other members. We hope you enjoy our internet site and invite input on how we can increase it.

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Does the Media Have a Conservative Or Liberal Bias?

It's a simple fact of life that all people and all human endeavors (including news coverage) are biased. conservatives (often identified with Republicans in the United States, although they are not strictly the same) like to accuse the mainstream media of exhibiting "liberal bias", and at the same time, liberals (again, in the U.S., often identified with the Democratic party) accuse the media of conservative bias. Because bias is widespread in virtually all news sources, it's very easy for conservatives to come up with examples of egregious liberal bias in the media...just as liberals find it easy to point to examples of blatant conservative bias. But these examples, picked and chosen to support one particular viewpoint, do not do anything to establish whether or not there's an overall trend or pattern of bias in one direction or another.

It's Not As Simple As Liberal vs. Conservative:

Compounding the problem of assessing what type of bias exists in the media are viewpoints that don't fit strictly into the liberal-conservative box. Certain news outlets exhibit a libertarian slant, taking socially liberal stances (such as pro-legalization and pro-gay-rights) while allying with conservatives in supporting the free market and smaller government. Some publications may have an environmentally alarmist bias, or a particular regional or cultural bias to them. Foreign sources exhibit bias associated with a particular country's viewpoint, perspective, or vested interests, and these foreign news sources can rarely be projected cleanly onto the American political spectrum defined by Democrats and Republicans.

So what is the bias? Liberal or Conservative?

My answer, which is not what many people want to hear, is that the question of whether the media collectively exhibits liberal bias or conservative bias is not a useful question, because it has no meaningful answer. Bias is widespread, but it is also complex and cannot be accurately described with labels like liberal or conservative.

So if we can't identify the bias of the media as a whole, what can we do?

While it's impossible to generalize about the bias of the media as a whole, often, a lot can be said about the biases of one particular media outlet. These biases are thoroughly discussed in print editorials and opinion pieces, and of course on blogs and internet discussion sites. By reading news with a critical eye, you can begin to identify the bias inherent in one particular news source's perspective. I find that bias is able to more easily sort out in print sources than on television or radio broadcasts, where bias is often hidden by the charisma and speaking abilities of a news anchor or talk show host.

When reading newspapers and print sources, one useful technique for this purpose is to read the same story in several different sources, and compare the conclusions drawn. It is especially valuable to seek out perspectives from other countries and cultures, as these viewpoints can sometimes offer valuable insights that are rarely found in domestic sources.

Alex Zorach writes for a variety of different websites; his opinion website is http://cazort.net/

On this site, you can find discussion of unbiased news sources, which includes a listing a number of high-quality online news sources, and discussion of what sorts of bias each of these sources exhibits, enabling you to approach a more objective, less biased viewpoint by exposing yourself to different perspectives.

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