# Liberals Believe in Universal Values, Conservatives Believe in Fundamental Values

- Link: https://www.andreidraganescu.info/2016/12/15/liberals-believe-in-universal-values-conservatives-believe-in-fundamental-values/
- Published: 2016-12-15T09:52:24+03:00
- Author: Andrei Draganescu

![](https://draganescu.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/b57c1-1tl-8w98enrt_ekznp0qirq.
png)

#### Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the great divide:

#### — this is the social schism that has been around since the dawn of civilisation, and it ain’t going away any time soon.

People will not get along, never ever, ever. This idea I keep reading that the conservatives
will eventually die makes me laugh hysterically and at the same time makes me want
to emigrate to Mars. And I just love Earth, you gotta, I mean this whole water thing,
breathable air and warm sun are really neat.

But, like, I don’t know how to say this, folks, we’re always gonna be pitted against
each other, unless we go on and relapse into full genocidal/eugenics mode … again.

It’s simple.

Fundamental values are those concepts that make up reality.

> **Reality** is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they
> may appear or might be imagined. Reality includes everything that is and has [been](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being),
> whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. A still broader definition 
> includes everything that has existed, exists, or will exist, says the Wiki

Take for instance, the fundamental values of democratic US politics: fairness, equality,
responsibility, freedom, integrity, security. These are values shared between the
entire spectrum of politicians.

Why are they shared? Because they are fundamental, that is, they have been around
since forever and we can’t imagine a future without them. We used these concepts
to base the great human construction we call The World on a strong enough foundation
to hold hundreds of civilisations, each new one built on top of the ruins of the
previous one.

Now comes the tricky part.

Universal values are those concepts that make up our _internal representation_ of
reality.

Reality is the same, but what we make of it, well that is another thing: it is culture.

> [Culture] is “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals,
> law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member 
> of society.”, Wikipedia informs.

As you see, when we take reality, everything that ever was, is or will be, all the
things that persist beyond presence, and we internalise them, that is we integrate
their existence into our existence, reality becomes abstract: art, morals, law, 
custom etc.

It is here at a cultural level where universal values begin to take shape:

> Schwartz’s ten types of universal value are: power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation,
> self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security,
> a quote from wikipedia.

“Stop with all those definitions!”, I hear you say. But here is the thing that makes
it all fall into place, one more definition:

> **Belief** is the state of mind in which a person thinks something to be the case,
> with or without there being empirical evidence to prove that something is the 
> case with factual certainty. Another way of defining belief sees it as a mental
> representation of an attitude positively oriented towards the likelihood of something
> being true, the wiki of course.

Truth, more than that, obvious truth, that is what belief empowers. And belief is
the strange attractor our minds revolve around. Take all beliefs and you’ll get 
suicide.

Liberals, by believing in universal values, think the inner reality is the source
of truth. Conservatives, by believing in fundamental values, think the outer reality
is the source of truth.

Conservatives are historically right. Man started by imitating nature. Their belief
is rooted in the past.

Liberals are _probably_ right. The future has proven constantly uncertain and mankind
survived by handling the future, which we do mostly by imagining a “better” nature.
Their belief is rooted in human nature.

You cannot reconcile this. When you try you get this:

### In the fairy tale kingdom of hope, disillusion is the dragon wreaking havoc

Here is how disillusion begins to breathe fire: conservatives are pro business, 
but they oppose globalisation. Liberals are pro government, but they support globalisation.
There is nothing better for business than globalisation. In my country the socialists
won elections by proposing tax cuts. The world is going bananas.

What is the liberal promise? Individuality or Community? It is very hard to not 
envision the image of the Jehovah’s Witness’ marketing materials:

![](https://draganescu.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/56ccb-10mxesvh1k3lfwwg6eiqspa.
png)

That is a picture from Watchtower that has been stuck in my mind since childhood.
I had one issue of Watchtower around the house and I was, and still am, fascinated
by these illustrations.

Social Justice, LGBTQA rights, equality of chances, eco consciousness, everything
is in that picture, symbolically.

But as much as they fascinate me, I know: some lions will not accept to not eat 
the lamb. 100% sure. Will you punish the lion?

Stop it with nature vs nurture. [There is no nurture, everything is nature](https://medium.com/@andraganescu/there-is-no-such-thing-as-nature-versus-nurture-d75f30bd4d64#.shzgpx113).

The conservative, right, promise is simple and clear: work hard, we’ll stand out
of your way and if you bring value and luck finds you, you’ll be rich and famous.
If luck doesn’t find you, you’ll have a common routine life which you’ll have to
work hard to maintain or you’ll slip in a poverty so deep, only God can save you.
And God will save you. We hope.

The liberal, left, promise is complex and blurry: work hard but not too hard, we’ll
hold your hand when you slip, luck doesn’t exist, only merit does, and the high 
in merit will be rich and famous. If merit is not enough, you’ll have a common routine
life which we’ll make sure you are locked into so that our elites are not polluted
by your ineptitude. Oh and there probably is no God, so …, yeah.

As you see the left has a lot more vagueness: merit, averages, introspection, elitism
built in. And its only natural, that is how things are represented inside ourselves:
blurry and complex. We get anxious about the coldness of the universe, while the
universe doesn’t even acknowledge our beingness.

The liberal part of the planet needs a more practical and less aggressive discourse.
You can’t state you’re correct, just because you sound right. Take LGBTQA rights.
There are conservatives who, if faced magically and instantly with the full awareness
of their bisexuality level on the Kinsey scale, would jump off a bridge. Before 
you say, “well that’d be great”, remember no man is an island and you cannot have
LGBTQA rights without social justice which is a complete justice, across all society.

The belief in fundamental values is blocking. When you ask conservatives why can’t
they see gender is a fluid concept, they’ll reply: because look in the mirror. You
sound just as insane to a conservative, as they sound fanatic to you.

I am liberal because I believe is is Humanity’s great task to build time resilience
to perfection and that is only possible in a liberal society which is a thousand
times better fit and a lot less arthritic than a conservative society in facing 
the immense challenges the future will constantly bring. That is my certainty, which
is what limits my awareness and makes me less creative in envisioning the possible
reconciliation. All certainties limit awareness.

But, happily, I know: ecosystems are conservative, they initially fight change then
once it becomes unavoidable they engulf it in the same ancient structures.

Which brings me to the biggest mental illusion that affects my liberal friends across
the planet: their being on the right side of history. Folks,

### The “wrong side of history” is apocalyptic talk

This is what I see when I hear “they are on the wrong side of history”:

![](https://draganescu.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/6069e-1_uskxcqkc0cgjcw8xngdca.
png)

That is another Jehovah’s Witness Watchtower illustration. These have to be the 
most elitist assholes ever depicted. Like the Silicon Valley techies whining about
the homeless in San Francisco.

What we liberals see as obvious is because our basic building blocks for internally
representing the world are made this way, **not because we are better beings.**

If we leave behind half of the planet to burn, we fail to see they simmer, and the
upcoming blowing lid will hit us right in the face. Like it just happened.

We need less vagueness in our discourse, a lower pitch, more grave tone.

Like, you know, solutions to problems. For example, capitalism, our current economic
game, will face more and more problems. Problems like the shift of the nature of
capital from material to immaterial. Or the fact that, right now, companies in certain
work markets have a very hard time to keep workers/employees motivated.

The generational gap in information access, the increased life expectancy, the thousand
year long lack of religious miracles, they all contribute to a general dissatisfaction
with how the system manages our short life. When the need to be employed becomes
essentially a strictly materialist endeavour, we’ll bring back some kind of violence
to keep people productive.

A liberal society can transform capitalism. A conservative society will fight life
to preserve a system. That is the truth. That is what mr. Trump is doing and that
is what his government apparatus looks like it is getting ready to do. It is ours,
the liberal folk’s responsibility to provide the alternative framework.

**Life changes fast and ends quickly. That is what I know and that makes be believe
in universal values. I am not better and I am thankful there are people who know
different.**

I also know, fundamental values justify violent positions. If we keep telling ourselves
the conservatives will die off and that eventually everyone will see the light of
the universals, we make the huge mistake of forgetting the diversity of the human
experience, which basically is what makes one liberal or conservative, not college
or health insurance.

Let’s look outside our heads for a bit, we have four years to become better.