Introduction
A conservative person believes in personal responsibilities and conserves his/her existing cultural or traditional norms. A conservative person preserves his/her social norms and is reluctant to any kind of change. A liberal person on the other hand welcomes and implements new changes even if they are unrealistic. A conservative and a liberal person are two different people with different ideologies (Gorlick par. 3). This paper, therefore, aims to address how a conservative author criticizes a liberal author and vice versa. Further, the paper shall endeavor to address my position on whether I am a liberal, conservative, or somewhere in the middle.
Critics
There are varied views about conservative and liberal people and may include political, religious, gender issues and many more. Liberals in America do not comply with government decisions all the time (Angelo par. 5). They always have the desire to change issues pertaining to the government. Because of this, the liberals feel that their own ideologies should be given an upper hand. Some conservatives believe some liberals are not wise people who dislike their country and that they have mental disorders (Ehrlich para 2). This belief however does not apply to all liberals. According to conservatives, liberals are people who can allow illegal immigrants into a country without considering the outcome. In America, liberals believe that the government should assist the immigrants, although they can pose a threat to a country especially when they are drug dealers or terrorists. This shows that liberals are not critical thinkers who foresee danger and find ways to overcome misfortune. Liberals should look beyond what they have at hand. The article Critical Thinking in the Social Sciences by Byrnes states that critical thinkers always look for accepted truths and see false assumptions. Liberals are viewed as people with bleeding hearts and have the sole purpose of taxation and spending. In the institution of marriage, a conservative criticizes liberals for supporting uncultured acts like lesbianism and homosexuality. Conservatives believe that marriage is only a union between a man and a woman. Liberals on the other side criticize conservatives who only preserve traditional marriages at the expense of gay marriages. Liberals believe that traditional norms like marriages should be done away with to allow a free world where people can marry whoever they want. In terms of gender, a liberal criticizes conservatives who do not recognize equality. They argue that both women and men should be given equal responsibilities. This is unlike conservatives who believe that there are certain roles for women and others for women. Liberals argue that roles like taking care of babies can equally be done by men and not necessarily women. Within the religious institution, liberals criticize conservatives who deny women the chance of being priests. Liberals argue that conservatives should not preserve themselves because they limit change. Liberals also criticize religious conservatives who claim to preserve certain norms yet they do not have unity amongst themselves. According to Byrnes, the Anglican Communion, Roman Catholic Church, and Orthodox churches have always worked differently (Byrnes para. 2). I am a liberal person who likes change. I prefer being liberal because it does not limit my freedom like in the case of conservatives. Liberals can always adapt to any kind of change and are not preserved to specific ideologies. I am also not tied up with any kind of social norms.
Conclusion
Although certain norms are worth preserving, conservatives should not restrict themselves to certain norms. Liberals however are free to adopt new changes.
Works Cited
Angelo. (n. d.). Final haven: Conservatism vs. Liberalism. 2006. Web.
Byrnes, Tom. Critical thinking in the Social Sciences. N.d. 2010. Web.
Ehrlich, Nat. “Self identification as liberal or conservative as a function of occupation” 2004. Web.
Gorlick, Adam. Liberal? Conservative? Stanford study says mental nudge can make voters flip-flop. 2009. Web.