Conservative v. Liberal

As I sat in church and listened to a sermon a few weeks ago, a thought hit me. The difference between conservatives and liberals is the difference between fear and hope.

Conservatives are, by definition, conserving something. Most of the time that I'm complaining about conservatives, it's something they have associated with politics. Let's take something inane as an example...something like the battle over same-sex marriage (I'd say gay marriage...but I'm from the school of thought that says all marriages should be gay). Often conservatives will have you believe that homosexuality is immoral, that it's associated with all sorts of physical maladies, and that since homosexuals are promiscuous they will make a mockery of marriage. Marriage, they claim, needs our protection from the likes of them (of course the 70% of married men that have admitted that they have been adulterous, well they're ok...their lascivious nature is not the problem...they're not making a mockery of marriage, or spreading disease).

That, folks, is fear, plain and simple.

It's not that the conservatives have actually proven any of their claims, nor is it that we, as a society, have actually endorsed homosexual marriages only to see them fail more miserably than heterosexual marriages (though it's hard to believe that they could fail more miserably that the official 55% divorce rate among first marriages...never mind the almost 80% rate among those who are re-married). Maybe it's that God, or more accurately, their god, will punish those homosexuals and anyone who is in league with them, I can't really say that I know for sure. The conservatives fear...something. They see marriages that have been torn apart by infidelity, war, poverty, and number of other ills and they assume that the rampant immorality of those "homos" will be another danger. (That reminds me of my favorite movie line...from a bad movie. "Assumption is the mother of all f#$%-ups.")

Liberals, on the other hand, often don't see the past in the same way. Rather than seeing causes of failure as something to be feared, they see them as an opportunity to do things a different way. Don't conserve the past...especially not when it's only filled with failure...such a focus only makes us learn to fail. We should have the freedom (libarae) to succeed, and we should be able to carry with us a hope about what's to come. Of course that's not to say that we're all fearless all the time...sometimes a little fear is a good thing...just not a life full of it.

Fear or hope....that's the choice.

As for me, I'd rather die hopeful than have lived fearfully.