This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Why Do Conservatives and Liberals Think Differently?

Who impacts our point of view the most? What causes the wide divide in our ideological point of view?

Who impacts our point of view the most? What causes the wide divide in our ideological point of view? Where do we look for guidance in our quest to form a personal belief system? Why is it that liberals and conservatives can’t seem to find any common ground? How does our worldview impact our opinion?

These are important questions; ones that I hope to begin to answer and to provide background information to enhance our understanding of the forces driving the Democratic and Republican parties. In order to understand, and to be effective at discussing our point of view, and rebutting the other side’s, you need to have a foundation on which to build your argument.

Being liberally inclined, I decided to explore the motivations of the other side first. I was interested in finding out how conservative organizations were involved with the formation of policy, voter education, and overall motivations. I wanted to understand how one side could have such a different vision of the same world.

Find out what's happening in Phoenixvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It all started with a post on Facebook. Had I ever heard of the John Birch Society? No, I had not. Did I not know about Fred Koch? No, I did not. Evidently if I wanted to understand modern conservatism, I would have to do some research and learn about the historical roots of this movement.

I started out by going to the website, www.ljbs.org and reading their mission statement and core principles, and there it was, right there, one of the first things I read and it explained why liberals and conservatives see the world in totally different and at times diametrically opposed ways. 

Find out what's happening in Phoenixvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The mission of the John Birch Society (JBS) as stated on the website, “To bring about less government, more responsibility, and with God's help — a better world by providing leadership, education, and organized volunteer action in accordance with moral and Constitutional principles.”

It was a statement that was further explained in the section on “Core Principles”, under the bullet item on “Preserving Individual Rights and National Independence”: “[The] declaration proclaimed that our personal rights come from God, not from Government.” (emphasis added)

I’d heard that before, and recently. Both Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan had used that exact phrase in recent speeches. And that explained a lot. As did a passage written by the actual John Birch in his “The War Weary Farmer”:

 ...I only want enough science to enable fruitful husbandry of the land with simple tools...I do not care to be absorbed in the endless examining of force and space and matter, which I believe can only slowly lead to God.

Well that explains so much doesn’t it? The site kept revealing more and more about this once secret group that claims many prominent members. In the FAQ’s it claimed abortion was a crime and that there is a plot to remove borders between the US, Canada and Mexico.

Quite possibly the most disturbing bit of information was the very top of the “Issues” list: Agenda 21. It gives insight into the conservative criticisms regarding developing sustainable and renewable energy and economy. Evidently, they think Agenda 21 is a plot to turn over our sovereign power to a new world order. Quite possibly engineered by Socialists, or Communists, the web site seems to confuse the two.

The JBS website states they want to stop “sustainable development laws”, for example Agenda 21, which it fears is undermining American individualism but which Wikipedia describes as a “non-binding voluntarily implemented action plan”.

So what is it about this plan that so worries the John Birch Society and conservatives? Let’s review the goals of the plan to promote “local action for global sustainability”:

               Agenda 21 supports cities to become:

  •      Sustainable
  •      Resilient
  •      Resource efficient
  •      Bio-diverse
  •      Low carbon
  •      Smart infrastructure
  •      And, to develop an inclusive, green, urban economy

               With an ultimate goal of creating communities that are “healthy and happy”.

I didn’t see anything wrong with that, and it certainly didn’t seem like a plot to undermine the US.

I continued reading and found a reference to a 1960 message founder Robert Welch sent to JBS members, he advised them to “join the PTA...go to work and take it over”.  On this I agree with Mr. Welch, we should all be joining the PTA, and running for school board.

The John Birch Society wanted to “awaken a sleeping and apathetic people”. It was all part of the goal under the “Restoring the Constitution” bullet point; to “institute a government that secures god given rights”, the way the Society planned to do this was to “work toward education and activating American’s to abide by the original intent of the Founding Fathers”. Evidently that is why they needed to take over PTA’s.

The problem is this very reasonable and even worthwhile endeavour has been subverting entire generations into thinking sustainability is bad and the UN is a secret communist backed effort to subsume the US into a new world order.  At the same time, the John Birch Society, its members and most mainstream conservatives seem quite convinced that while big government is bad, they must take it over, and quickly.

And that made me realize, just how liberals and conservatives had come to a different way of looking at the world. Liberals inherently seem to think that global cooperation is good, conservatives seem to think it is bad. Liberals want a renewable energy based economy. Conservatives want to continue on the same dirty diminishing fossil fuel path that brought us a dirty diminishing economy. It really is a fight between two very different views on how the world works.

How do we close this chasm between the two parties? And who gains the most by keeping it? In the next instalment, who was David Koch and why do his sons think they should be able to buy this election?

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?