Part 3 of an ongoing series about what conservatives believe. (H/T Ponder With Us)
This one is on wealth creation and free trade.
Tag Archives: Capitalism
What’s the difference between conservatives and liberals?
Well, you’d say what Bill Whittle says about conservatives in these two videos. (H/T ECM)
1) Conservatives value limited government and free enterprise
If you like having a choice when you go shopping or if you like having a job, then you’re a conservative. If you like collecting welfare, and preventing people from choosing better schools for their children, then you’re a progressive/liberal/socialist/communist.
2) Conservatives value individual choices over government control
If you think that you know best how to run your own life, then you’re a conservative. If you think that the government should run your life for you, then you’re a progressive/liberal/socialist/communist.
What do conservatives look like?
Here’s my favorite conservative, Representative Michele Bachmann:
This is what conservatives look like and sound like. Are you one?
Is it possible that foreign aid can actually do more harm than good?
A really good read by Stuart Schneiderman.
Excerpt:
…if you send boatloads of food to feed the world’s hungry, you are going to feel very good about yourself, but you are also going to destroy local agriculture.
No one can compete with “free.”
Gratifying your philanthropic urges can easily create a cycle of dependence, one that saps initiative, self-respect, and demeans individuals.
Keep in mind, no matter who begins these foundations, and no matter whose name is on the door, ultimately they will be run by people who are in the business of philanthropy, and that means, people who have made it their life’s work.
These people are not champions of the free market; they are not especially interested in building businesses. They are interested in assuaging guilt, their own or someone else’s, by giving away money.
These charities will be promoting liberal and progressive causes; they will become advocacy organizations. They will not be promoting capitalism.
It is a good thing to fund education. It makes you feel good to fund education. Except that the problem with education has very little to do with money.
Education is a system that has been run by liberals and progressives, with precious little interference from moderates and conservatives. More and more it has devoted itself to inculcating the values associated with political correctness and self-esteemism, rather than teaching children.
All the world’s money is not going to change that.
It’s one thing to give money to the poor and the indigent. Religions have always done as much. It’s quite another to create a special class of people who can promote their own ideology under cover of philanthropy.
When I give to charity, it is usually for specific speakers and conferences that my friends organize at universities and churches. I don’t believe in giving money to organizations like United Way and Amnesty International. I do not think it is a good idea to give money to left wing groups who view the poor as victims instead of as potential allies. I like foreign investments, free trade and micro loan programs, though.
WINTERY KNIGHT 