Shibboleths

I read an article using this word and I had to look it up.

shibboleth

Pronunciation: /ˈʃɪbəlɛθ/

noun

• a custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a particular class or group of people, especially a long-standing one regarded as outmoded or no longer important.

Having done so, I was inspired to use it in a post about political leanings on both sides of the aisle.

Education

Conservatives believe in the free market and, therefore oppose the government near-monopoly on education. They also oppose the liberal inculcation of our children.

Liberals love government intrusion and don't believe in letting people grade educators with their wallets. They believe that throwing (other people's) money at publicly financed schools will make them excellent.

Let's try one of Einstein's thought experiments;

• Imagine the best and worst schools in the country. 
• Imagine transplanting the students of both schools, one to the other.
• What happens?

To my knowledge this experiment has never been tried but the probable result should not surprise anybody except for those who proclaim money to be the answer; the students who excelled will continue to excel and those who failed will continue to fail.

  

The Middle Class

Conservatives and liberals love to 'fight for' the mythic middle class.

I say it's a fiction. Where are they?

State taxes and FICA crush the lower half while income taxes crush the middle. The top pays to undo what state taxes and FICA do to the bottom.

Debt payments raise the cost of living for all.

Entitlements

Conservatives believe in personal responsibility and therefore oppose all government-run social programs, only two of which are actual entitlements; Social Security and Medicare.

I say actual because we pay a specific tax for them (FICA) so folks feel entitled to the benefit. The problems with these two are that Social Security is a ripoff and Medicare is woefully underfunded because of a dip in birthrates following the Baby Boom; can you say Ponzi?.

Liberals believe that government-run social programs, and the redistribution of wealth that they represent, are the best things since Das Kapital, the bible of class warfare.

Even after 50 years of experiment here (and more elsewhere) show no improvement in poverty rates, they keep hoping these boondoggles will bear fruit.

Gun Control

Conservatives believe that the Constitution is the go-to authority on this subject and the Supreme Court has agreed.

Liberals ignore DC v. Heller and also ignore logic.

Global Warming

Conservatives don't buy into this for one (or more) of these reasons;

• Contradictory science.
• Consequences for economy.
• We have bigger problems.

Liberals love the idea of mankind destroying the earth and the liberal politicians are only too happy to use that as an excuse to lighten everyone's wallets. Meanwhile, many liberals live on the coast and happily clamor for government bailouts after floods; if they don't listen to themselves, why should anyone else?

Government Spending

Conservatives favor small government with commensurately small spending.

Liberals favor government intrusion in all aspects of life; and abusing government's taxing (and borrowing) and spending authority to force conservatives to split the costs.

All of government should cost 10%, not 40% of national income.

  

Tax Loopholes

Conservatives want breaks for businesses to promote growth.

Liberals want breaks for consumers to promote consumer spending.

I say get rid of all breaks ($2 trillion/year) and cut all taxes by 30%. Then get rid of social programs and use a flat tax of 10% for all.
  

Healthcare

Conservatives want the free market to provide health insurance.

Liberals want the government to provide health insurance for all.

As a result, we get the clusterf_ck of Medicaid, Obamacare, Medicare and private insurance.

Health care costs balloon (slope of curve below triples after 1965) when taxpayers chip in since this is free money to providers.

Debt, GDP and the Cost of Living

Conservatives believe that people should live within their means; save some for later.

Liberals believe that people should live within the means of others and borrow the rest.

This has led to $17 trillion in federal debt plus $11 trillion in consumer debt $4 trillion in toxic assets plus $1.5 trillion in state debt plus $1.8 trillion in local debt plus $1 trillion in student debt.

$35.3 trillion in all.

Sadly, the spending fueled by government debt makes GDP look good.

When we borrow money, our monthly expenses go up; our cost of living increases.

Moral Issues

Conservatives rant about moral issues like contraception and abortion.

Liberals rant about the same things.

We also have homosexuality, drugs, alcohol, gun control, racism, euthanasia, cloning, slavery, etc.

Government should promote liberty and leave morality to others.

George Washington's reputation as a man of moral fortitude reveals more about America's view of morality than it does about the man himself. Washington was an exceedingly bland heroic leader, embodying an eighteenth-century ideal of republican virtue that emphasized duty, sacrifice and honorable disinterest. 

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." -- John Adams

If a nation's government is founded on individual liberty, it will afford to its citizens the opportunity to live securely and to relate to one another in ways that will be mutually beneficial. Liberty, in other words, affords a moral opportunity.

"Liberty... is the great parent of science and of virtue; and a nation will be great in both always in proportion as it is free." --Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Willard, 1789.

"To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea."-- James Madison

Except for alcohol and slavery, the founders didn't have the same issues as we currently have but their solution is just as good today as it was then; promote liberty for the virtuous, those lacking virtue are ungovernable.