This might be hard to believe, but conservatives and liberals are actually not that different.
Yeah, we look different, act differently and dress differently, but in the end, we all want the same things. We just disagree on how to bring these things about.
Take foreign policy for instance. I’m not speaking for all conservatives here, but the majority of us aren’t actually aggressive warmongers. In fact, we don’t really like war either. We don’t like death, destruction, sadness or anything involved in it. Unfortunately, it’s necessary at times. Whether out of defense, preemption (defense) or in order to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself (especially with power-hungry dictators), war is the only answer when peaceful diplomacy isn’t working. So I guess you can say we’re a bit more willing to face the facts? And act upon them?
Wealth disparity is another one. Conservatives don’t actually try to store up all of their money and keep it from people in need. They generally want everyone to be happy and have their basic needs met. What we don’t want is the government doing that for us. If they leave the system alone, most fiscal conservatives believe that over time, standards of living will get better as the country’s undeterred human capital gets better. So in this case, conservatives have the future on their minds and are willing to sacrifice the present for it.
When it comes to abortion, most levelheaded conservatives don’t actually think that pro-choicers are out there to kill all of the babies. We just believe what they are supporting does in fact kill babies. We don’t read things in the constitution that aren’t there, we appreciate the sanctity of life, and yes, we believe that the destruction of something growing in a mother’s womb is destruction of life. We don’t think children should ever be considered to be burdens, but we understand some mothers are put in difficult situations. That’s why there are adoption and other organizations set up to council women and provide financial assistance.
And then there is the big one: Health care. Believe it or not, conservatives do have hearts. We tear up when we hear the story about the woman with the malignant tumor who is unable to afford the proper care that would save her life. As awful as this reality is, this, and stories like it, are not enough to support a complete revamping of the system. Appeals to pity don’t work as logical arguments. Unfortunately, health care is a scarce resource right now and whichever way you roll the dice, someone’s not going to get what they need. Instead of letting the government decide who gets care, most conservatives would rather focus on the care itself and on ways to make it more available in the future (Again with that conservatives think about the future before the present type of thing).
Oh, and just to clear it up, not all conservatives were born with silver spoons in their mouths. Mine was made of gold.
—Frannie Boyle is a junior in the College of Arts and Science. She can be reached at mary.f.boyle@vanderbilt.edu.
