shanex is annoying. In ways that make me think. (That's a com

shanex posted in his LJ that it is virtually impossible to believe all "liberal" or "conservative" positions if you come up with your positions from actually thinking them through, and not just by blindly following party lines.

Maybe.

But THEN he said that there is no simple belief that you could have that would lead to the list of things generally considered to be "liberal" beliefs or "conservative" beliefs.

And that's where he's most wrong. It's very simple to articulate a simple emotional belief that leads to conservatism, and a simple emotional belief that leads to liberalism.

It may take a few words to express each of these, but they each are one simple, consistent emotion.

We start with the observation that, for the most part, everybody¹ has a set of beliefs that they share. In cases where these beliefs don't dominate action, it's because they are overridden by the Liberal Belief, or the Conservative Belief.

In the United States, these core beliefs include a belief that people should be allowed to do what they want, that if someone, through luck or skill, becomes successful, good for them, that everyone should be treated fairly, that everyone should have a fair chance to explain themselves if they're accused of something. That, all other things being equal, lower taxes are good, and a government that does less is better.

And then we have the Core Liberal Belief, and the Core Conservative Belief.
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1: "Everybody" is here defined as "all but a small enough group to be statistically insignificant."

Oh, right -- rural vs urban with core beliefs

My argument:

The Conservative Core Belief: "Evil people are the biggest danger."
The Liberal Core Belief: "Random events are the biggest danger."

Cities vs rural.

If you live in a city, you are protected from random events to a pretty good extent. Okay, Galveston and New Orleans might disagree with me, but, on the whole, if something happens to you individually, there are other people around to help, there are hospitals, there are police, there are fire departments. You've got a lot of infrastructure around that helps mitigate the random stuff.

'Course, there are a lot of PEOPLE around, too. Including a certain percentage of miscreants. You could be mugged, for instance.

So -- which is better: to live in a place where you could be attacked by a stranger who wants to steal your money? Or to live in a place where you could have a heart attack while outside somewhere, and not have anybody notice -- or where if you DO call 911, it's going to take them at least half an hour to get there?