Polar opposites (#1924)

Liberals, (Democrats), idea of a good society is to help folks; conservatives, (Republicans), idea of a good society is to harm folks. Somehow conservatives got the idea that in the carrot and stick scenario, there is no carrot, while liberals do use the carrot and the stick. We use the stick, in conjunction with the carrot, as an alternative after the efforts with just the carrot have failed. Another paradigm where liberals and conservatives are polar opposites is in the understanding of basic facts. We liberals use logic to differentiate between cause and effect, while conservatives see only the effect and base their policies from there. It is like two different human beings become either liberals or conservatives. Those who have insight into the evolving, comprehensive and panoramic knowledge of our existence and society, become liberals, while those who have given up on their curiosity and narrow their understanding of possibility to follow only their fear become conservatives. That may have sounded harsh in my definition of a conservative but from my chair, there is little wrong with my statement. Conservatives have come to rely on faith based calculations as the reason for their existence, which necessitates a withdrawal from the sciences and the discoveries of what curiosity demands. If that isn't fear of the unknown then I am mistaken. As a liberal I celebrate the unknown as just another arena for me to wrestle knowledge from. I have come from the proposition that I know little and want to know more, which doesn't tie me to either a belief system nor a fear system. My life is too short to be afraid of what life means if I am in it for only a short amount of time to begin with.