• intensely_human@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    It’s conservative in terms of government power.

    Like putting a conservative amount of jelly on your toast means a small amount. Putting a liberal amount of jelly on your toast means a large amount.

    The terms conservative and liberal refer to how much government jelly you’re putting on the toast of society.

    Someone who seeks to conserve things is a conservationist.

    • Cowbee@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      No, this is quite wrong.

      Conservatives wish to maintain the status quo and pull back changes made to the status quo.

      Liberalism is an ideology of free-market Capitalism and personal liberty.

      Neither directly cares about the size of government as long as it stays within those boundaries.

      • Socsa@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Liberalism is the ideology of personal liberty, from which capitalist-like principles emerge (eg private property rights). It’s a small distinction but an important one in my opinion. Enlightenment philosophers didn’t set out to enslave humanity under the thumb of capitalism - they set out to create an idealistic ethic around the rights of the individual and accidentally created a new form of economic feudalism.

        • Cowbee@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Sure! They were wrong, of course, but that’s why I mentioned that it’s centered on personal liberty with the principles of Capitalism.

    • yata@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Yeah but “putting a conservative amount of jelly on your toast” has nothing to do with being a conservationist, because “a conservative amount of government” isn’t what exist or has historically existed.

      I think your analogy is fundamentally flawed, because just because the words (“conservative amount of jelly” and “being a political conservative”) are same, they don’t have anything else in common.

      It is like when Republicans claim that the US isn’t a democracy, because they are afraid it means support for the Democrats. Two different words with different meanings.

    • lntl@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      i had to scroll pretty far to find someone who actually knew what conservative meant. And only to find you’re downvoted!

      lol i hope people don’t vote like this irl or democracy is doomed