Who wants to hear my opinion about society? Anyone?
Too bad. I'm still going ahead.
Pondering away how a liberal and conservative views the welfare state, I arrived at a non-conclusive opinion. I hope people will add to this.
The liberal believes, essentially, everyone in society must be taken care of. In their eyes, government taxes to this end is voluntary. If confronted with the notion of wasteful mismanagement, slowing down human pursuits and subsidizing the dumb and lazy, so be it. The trade off, for progressive liberals, between compassion and mistakes is more than fair. Socialist liberals have even more faith in government. Confronted with the choice between man and government, they'll choose the latter just to be safe. In a way, they lack faith in man to guard himself.
The conservative believes, much like a liberal, in a just society, only they see no point in giving money to people who won't help themselves. To them, government taxes for welfare leads to abuse of the system and fails to address, for example, issues of poverty. They further believe people and communities can come up with better solutions to what ails society. Progressive conservatives believe government has a role to play in this while libertarian conservative simply mistrust government - loosely speaking. If socialists are charged with having a negative view of mankind, conservatives, presently speaking, may have too much of a positive view.
Where do I lie? Somewhere in between. I would love to protect everyone but without too much government intervention. Impractical? Perhaps. But I believe this is the best route to roll on.
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