Political Interest wrote:Whenever I speak to conservatives from the UK and USA they always speak in favour of less government spending. They speak about "small government" and "freedom".
Free market capitalism is brutal, but it is exceedingly efficient. The profit motive and competition is what drives the efficient allocation of resources. Governments, monopolies, cartels, labor unions, etc. generally sacrifice efficient resource allocation for other ends. They typically suggest that eliminating the profit motive removes waste or corruption from the system. The more powerful the force opposing efficient re-allocation of resources, the more economic growth suffers.
Political Interest wrote:In my view capitalism is inherently hostile to conservatism and at heart advances liberalism.
You have to distinguish liberalism and libertinism. Capitalism punishes the latter.
Political Interest wrote:The discussions about "family values", "tradition" are simply feel good fluff, but nothing changes.
Children from traditional families do better than children from broken homes on almost any measure. It's not just "feel good" fluff.
Political Interest wrote:At the end of the day they have not done much to actually preserve traditions or conserve anything.
That's a failure of conservatism. Pushing women into the work force wasn't about equality. It was about being able to tax women. A woman who stays home and rears children cannot be taxed for her domestic labor. Give her a job and get her to hire a baby sitter; then, the government can tax both her AND the baby sitter. Government is a monopoly. Just like industrial monopolies or labor unions, they seek to maximize. In the case of industrial combines, it's profit. In the case of labor unions, it's wages. In the case of government, tax revenue.
Political Interest wrote:They are both liberals, simply the ones who call themselves conservatives have a superficial social conservatism, the liberals do not.
Conservatives tend to accept the brutal aspects of market economics.
Political Interest wrote:Wouldn't a real conservative want to ensure that everyone in his country has a roof over their heads, food on the table and a job to go to?
Typically, the freer the market, the easier it is to achieve those ends. Government can never operate as efficiently as the market, because government operations are policy driven, not market driven.
Political Interest wrote:Why is providing free medical services also not embraced by conservatives?
There is no country on Earth that provides long-term free medical services to everyone. Rather, in some countries, the beneficiary is not charged directly. The bill is assumed by the tax payer.
2408 wrote:You would think a conservative would be supportive of preserving traditional values and customs yet they all seem to have economic views which would allow multinational corporations to alter those customs in a degenerative and negative way.
That is certainly a problem with elected politicians. As I said, they prefer to maximize tax revenue and to dole it out to their supporters. That's the nature of a politician.
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