# Well-intentioned ideas that won't work in real life: green grocer liberalism

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-intentioned-ideas-that-wont-work-in-real-life-green-grocer-liberalism/624728>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [June 10, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-intentioned-ideas-that-wont-work-in-real-life-green-grocer-liberalism/624728 "2012-06-10T15:17:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 109

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**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-intentioned-ideas-that-wont-work-in-real-life-green-grocer-liberalism/624728/109 "2012-06-11T00:50:13Z")

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> [@MsWhatsit](#):
>
> Do you feel like this kind of thing is helpful in arguments? I mean, I don’t really feel like people railing on about evil douchebag conservatives is helpful, either. But you seem like a generally reasonable person, so it seems odd to me to see you pull out nonsense like this, or like your OP, “liberals mean well, and want to make things better, but their ideas are too often more idealistic than practical.”
> 
> That is a nonsensical reason to be a conservative. The opposite of that statement is “Conservatives don’t mean well and don’t want to make things better.” Or maybe you just meant to draw the contrast between liberals, who have impractical ideas, and conservatives, who have practical ones. But what are these practical ideas intended to do? Make things better? Do the conservatives mean well when they propose these practical ideas that will make things better? If so, how is that a contrast with what you say liberals are like?
> 
> And generally speaking, how is it helpful to set up this divisive stance? What do you hope to accomplish by saying these things?

I suppose I get tired of seeing a constant litany here of how evil Republicans are. And it’s great for you to tell ME it’s unhelpful, but why don’t you say that to the people who are doing it?

I can’t really carry off the persona, as evidenced by my quick admission when asked about abstinence-only sex ed that conservatives do the same things, and for essentially the same reasons: they want to make things better but succumb to ideology over fact.

Nothing I have said here is anything I don’t believe. I have simply not (until asked) volunteered it’s a problem on both sides.

Why am I supposed to always be reasonable and fair, and slog through threads calling me a partisan bigot day after day?

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