conservative vs liberal - a caricature

cameragirl21 wrote: so I thought my question about who is to blame showed a clear consensus on both sides, except for Monica who briefly broke ranks but I'm sure she's not a fullblown convert...yet.
This btw, is meant to be a caricature and is not to be taken literally, nor is it meant to offend anyone, just thought it to be a slight exaggeration of reality....

Conservatives are all about personal responsibility, you did the crime, you do the crime and don't blame anyone but yourself for your bad judgment...if you're a conservative, you'd respond to someone who is losing their home to foreclosure by saying, "you should have known better, now drop down and give me twenty! Then go to church and pray to God to forgive you for what you've done...and be sure to use a sharpie to write the words, 'I am a bad debtor' on your forehead before you go so that the shame of everyone knowing you borrowed more than you could pay back will straighten you out and make you think long and hard about what you did. And don't go blaming the lender, he didn't make you do it!"

Liberals are all about social responsibility, before chiding someone in foreclosure, a liberal would first ask if there were underlying circumstances, like, did the homeowner who is now losing his home spend money improving the place for all of mankind, like did he install a solar panel for his hot water heater, or a more efficient cooling and heating system or did he spend a fortune hiring a landscaper to plant a garden that will provide oxygen for all his immediate neighbors? Because if so, by this token alone, he deserves a bit of a break. Also, if the homeowner vehemently opposes the Iraq war, then he should get a break for that too. So the convo would go something like this, "Dude...you messed up, but sh*t, don't we all? Go plant a tree, do some yoga, take a deeeeeep breath and think about what you did and what you can learn from this adversity and how it will affect all of society. And if that doesn't work, come back and I'll share my hash with ya...it's organic, home grown and hand rolled by me while burning some patchouli incense...."

my2monkeyboys replied: That is cute -- thanks for sharing!

luvmykids replied: OH CRAP, I may be more liberal than any of us ever imagined!












Just kidding, just wanted to prove conservatives DO have a sense of humor

eta: But seriously, I would (and have) respond as the liberal in this scenario did, asking what happened to cause such a loss (not so much concerned with their environmental efforts but giving them the benefit of the doubt that something catastrophic happened) although I think it's far more to do with my sympathetic and compassionate nature than political views

coasterqueen replied: Makes me wonder if people raise their children this way too.

I mean, seriously, if my child makes a bad mistake I teach them not to do it again, why they shouldn't do it and "you did the crime, you do the time" or they'll never learn. Wonder if a liberal does too? And if so why would you do that with your kids but not everyone else?

Interesting.....

I also often wonder why many liberals (that I know) are quick to say "you did the crime, you do the time" when it comes to criminals....but no one else?

cameragirl21 replied: hehehe, if you're a liberal, you'd first want to know why someone did the crime...maybe they had good reason? Not to do a "crime" per se but when it comes to the whole foreclosure thing, people who thought they could never own a home were given an opportunity to grab onto their piece of the American dream...however unrealistic it may have seemed, I don't blame them for dreaming and believing the unbelievable...bear in mind they may not be as sophisticated or educated as the rest of us and when you're at the bottom of the totem pole, it's easy to get caught up in dreams and fancies.
I personally think if you are a lender, it's up to you to determine if someone is credit worthy...if you make a bad judgment, it's your error, not theirs...few people will truly know if they're credit worthy because poor people may take a second job to find a way and those who are well off can get laid off or seriously ill or whatever and can lose everything in the blink of an eye, even if they were previously very credit worthy.
I believe these things should be considered on a case by case basis and if anyone needs a bailout, it's the individual, not companies who got greedy and took advantage of other people's desire to pursue the American dream.

coasterqueen replied:
Wow, I'm glad I'm not uneducated or poor. I'd really hate to be put in the classifications people tend to put them in - the excuses they give them that it's "ok" because you are uneducated or poor. Common sense is not something you learn in school, IMO, and a majority of life skills is common sense.

So if a rich person/educated person goes out and grabs a piece of the American dream and believing the unbelieable they would be "punished" in some way because they should be smart/educated.....but if you are dumb and poor it's OK........just not getting that logic. Very sad, that is how we are helping our poor/uneducated people.....giving them excuses. I guess it's ok if they are pedophiles, murderers, etc, etc because they are poor and uneducated so they don't know any better???

Sorry Jennifer, I love ya, but I'm not giving those excuses for people, for anyone. It's like my mother always saying my sister can do this or that because she's just not as smart as me so my mother lets her get away with everything. My mother still pays some of her bills, constantly doing everything for her. But hey, it's ok, because my sister didn't get the brains I did and didn't marry the man I did, so she's not as educated as me and not as "rich" as me. I hate that excuse every time my mother gives it to me. But she does........I let my sister figure it out - I don't help - why? Because she'll never LEARN if you don't give her the opportunity to learn and fail - only way to success.

Might sound cruel. Might sound tough. But I don't plan to give excuses to everyone the rest of their life so they can never achieve anything, which is what we do as Americans. I don't plan to hold my child's hand the rest of their life so they can never experience it and what it all has to offer - the good and the bad.

cameragirl21 replied: Idk, I don't think there's much anyone can learn from losing their home...I do think lenders have lots to learn from losing money because they were greedy and took advantage of people.
And while I agree people have to be allowed to make their mistakes so they can learn, I think at the end of the day that people are just human and humans make mistakes...those mistakes shouldn't ruin people's lives unless they're the kind of mistakes that take lives, like drunk driving, murder, etc.
Making bad financial decisions should cost people but I also think they should be given opportunities to resolve their situations. I think banks should take the bullet for this one, they were greedy and now they need to do the time for their crime.

coasterqueen replied:
I don't know, all that logic sounds very contradicting to me. I can't understand it.

redchief replied:
Based upon my experience, a person's level of Common Sense is directly inverse to one's level of education.

Before anyone lambastes me... I'm sort of kidding.

punkeemunkee'smom replied:



I think somebody is smokin somethin for sure! sERIOUSLY, as educated as the 'rest of us'....do you even realize how pompus that statement is?

coasterqueen replied:
Yeah, I know lots of very educated/smart people who have NO common sense at all.

MoonMama replied:
WOWIE!