# Do liberal policies encourage the spread of social conservatism? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 23, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberal-policies-encourage-the-spread-of-social-conservatism/494165 "2009-04-23T22:55:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberal-policies-encourage-the-spread-of-social-conservatism/494165/61 "2009-04-27T17:53:20Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > I was pretty straight up about what I said. > > **BrainGlutton** We could start with compulsory schooling, and compulsory standards. One of the most prominent aspects of socialism in our nation. The state-owned school system. :rolleyes: Ermm, no it isn’t, **mswas.** From [“Obama’s Timid Liberalism,”](http://www.newamerica.net/publications/articles/2009/obamas_timid_liberalism_11559) by Michael Lind: > [@](#): > > The point of this imaginary monologue is simple. Once upon a time in the United States, public goods – from retirement security and energy research to public roads – were provided by the government and paid for by taxes. As late as the Nixon administration, the provision of public goods by government was considered perfectly compatible with a robust market economy by so-called Modern Republicans like Eisenhower and Nixon as well as New Deal Democrats like Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and Johnson. **In the intervening 40 years, however, free-market fundamentalists of the Chicago School have managed to change the debate, redefining “socialism” to mean not only public ownership of the means of production, but also public provision of public goods.** Said redefinition, of course, was and remains both preposterous and dishonest. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberal-policies-encourage-the-spread-of-social-conservatism/494165/62 "2009-04-27T18:27:43Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > I was pretty straight up about what I said. I have never heard of anything remotely like what you were claiming. Give me a cite that, for example, non-crazy people are saying that the ‘Christian lifestyle’, whatever the fuck that is, is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberal-policies-encourage-the-spread-of-social-conservatism/494165/63 "2009-04-27T20:20:59Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > I have never heard of anything remotely like what you were claiming. Give me a cite that, for example, non-crazy people are saying that the ‘Christian lifestyle’, whatever the fuck that is, is wrong. Or, perhaps, some specifics as to which parts of that lifestyle. Burning witches, of course, is now kind of a taboo. Maybe that’s what he means? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberal-policies-encourage-the-spread-of-social-conservatism/494165/64 "2009-04-27T20:45:00Z")
What in the world…Liberals don’t want to restrict my rights but Conservatives do? Oh please! They both wish to restirct rights…in Spades. I was very liberal growing up. I then went into teaching - 2 years high school and 6 years college. That is when my needle was bashed from extreme left to slightly right leaning. College faculty/everything doing with college was extremely liberal…and they were ALL about limiting rights. They also thought nothing about destroying someones career (not mine but I could see it happen) for relatively small trangressions. They were quick to pass judgment on people with very little information and saw the world through black/white and very harsh eyes. If you expressed dissent with these people…they would DESTROY you…just because you disagreed with them. I saw it happen! You see…they were RIGHT and if you disagreed you were an idiot/retarded/evil etc and need to be punished or destroyed. They thought nothing of doing this…like crushing a disgusting bug. The fact that these were humans they were crushing was even a blip on their radar. The few conservatives I met seemed reasoned, nuanced. The liberals seemed fanatical…inhuman. This was the observation of someone that, at the time, considered himself very liberal. This is when I started examining the ‘reality’ that Liberal=good and Conservative=bad. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberal-policies-encourage-the-spread-of-social-conservatism/494165/65 "2009-04-27T20:47:46Z")
Sounds to me like you ran into a bunch of jerks. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberal-policies-encourage-the-spread-of-social-conservatism/494165/66 "2009-04-28T17:56:47Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > Sounds to me like you ran into a bunch of jerks. And they’re just exercising their right to be jerks. What they would do with political power is a different question. But we can be **sure** what the social/religious conservatives would do with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberal-policies-encourage-the-spread-of-social-conservatism/494165.md?page=3)