jerryk on Nostr: The left-right divide in politics is fundamental, however, sometimes one gets the ...

The left-right divide in politics is fundamental, however, sometimes one gets the impression there is some confusion as to exactly what it means. This is particularly true in the United States, where the American conception of what constitutes a "conservative" seems to be somewhat more extreme than in the rest of the world, as a whole.

I believe this is related to the somewhat unique circumstances out of which the United States were formed. Essentially, European diseases had wiped out most of the local native population, so American colonials found themselves in the rather desirable position of living in an almost entirely empty, but very temperate and fruitful land. And, under such circumstances, there is rather little need for government of any type, at all. After all, if there's more than enough land and wealth to go around, why would people come into conflict? What need for centralized control and organization? There was an old saying in colonial America, "If you can see the chimney smoke of your neighbors, it's time to move on!" So, given that obvious option, why have a government, at all?

So, in traditional American values, there is a profound distrust of any and all government. Who needs it, anyway? This is NOT the view of most world cultures, for whom this period of vast empty space with no need for government is too remote in the very distant past to remain a part of the culture. So, for Americans, "conservatism" generally means a longing to go back to a period when no government at all was in any way necessary, something that most cultures recognize is no longer a practical possibility on an overpopulated planet.

Basically, people on the left want change, social progress, social development. People on the right want things to stay more or less the same, or to go back to some previous "golden age" of world culture. I would say, as a general rule, the "conservative" right-wing philosophy makes the most sense if things are going well, or, if the problems are of a very familiar type, which are effectively solved by traditional, conservative approaches. On the other hand, if problems are new, serious and unpredictable, then, a "liberal" left-wing philosophy is likely to prove most effective as a means of dealing with these new kinds of problems, in the long run, anyway. Of course, in the short run, fundamentally new approaches might make things a lot worse, because we have no idea what we're doing, at all! Nevertheless, such problems might be inevitable, and the only way of ever achieving any true improvement from a thoroughly unsatisfactory condition may be to work through them, as best we can, trying out fundamentally new approaches, until we achieve a satisfactory outcome. What is the alternative, really?


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