- Conservatives believe that "the government which governs best governs least." First penned by Thomas Paine, and then echoed by Thomas Jefferson, Henry D. Thoreau, Ronald Reagan and more recently by Sarah Palin, conservatives believe smaller government, which is not allowed to raise excessive taxes or issue laws controlling individual behavior, creates a society that empowers citizens' successes. Conservatives believe a central federal government has roles which it can and must perform well. National defense, public utilities and mass transit systems are a few of the federal government's important functions. But conservatives believe that a federal government should not have the power to control, monitor, tax or regulate an individual's behavior.
- The liberals approach government from a different paradigm. Liberals believe that the government should, and indeed must do some things for their citizens. Liberals often focus on topics such as social injustice, discrimination, inequalities between individuals and groups. Because of these inequities, they believe the federal government should step in and correct injustices and inequalities. Liberals seek to accomplish this through legislation, regulation and tax policies. Terms such as social justice, redistribution of wealth, and shared sacrifice are often central in their arguments. However, the underlying questions regarding whether or not the federal government is the best agency to control behavior and take money from one group and give it to others are often not discussed.
- This conflict over ideology has much further reaching consequences, which voters should understand. The answer to the question: "Who controls the wealth that citizens earn?" also defines who controls the direction of the nation. In the life of a nation, those who control the money control power and influence. Conservatives believe those who work and create profit should be able to keep most of it, and thereby control their own futures. Liberals believe that because of the inequitable distribution of wealth, and inequalities between people, the government should step in and equalize the outcome.
Because liberal policies focus on managed control over wealth, wealth creation and economic activity, the unavoidable consequence this second path is that liberal politicians become central to, and in charge of how the wealth is used, and who is allowed to hold power in the country. In short, conservatives believe that when the power lies in the hands of the people, their competing influences hold everyone accountable and in balance. Liberals believe that a small group of people should hold power which is then exercised over the rest of a country's citizens. As philosophies, these two sets of principles are incompatible. - Much of the discourse in the public marketplace is directed toward shaping public opinions, either positively about one's own party, or negatively about the other person's party. As a result, an image has been formed that liberal and conservative political theories are at opposite ends of a sliding political spectrum.
In reality, a more accurate sliding scale is one in which has at one end a society which has totalitarian, unchallenged government control over citizen's lives. At the other end of the scale is a society with zero government. Both extremes are unacceptable for free people because both systems result in unsustainable chaos. Progressive, liberal, Democratic, Republican, conservative and libertarian political philosophies each lie at points along that line. In the order listed, they progress from a more controlling, intrusive central government to a minimal, constitutionally-limited federal government. - Three parties are involved in this example, those who receive government assistance, those who are taxed and the federal government. All three groups encounter inevitable consequences of government policy. When individuals receive monetary assistance over a long period of time, they become dependent on those who are supplying their resources. Thus, they become dependent on the government and not on themselves. When a federal government is able to raise taxes of those who are producing economic activity, the federal government reduces the amount of money flowing through the system. It also reduces the profit incentive of those who risk running a business.
As a result, economic activity slows down, because business owners no longer have the capital to work with, nor the incentive to build and grow. Finally, when the federal government is able to make laws that takes money and resources from one group to give to another, it has the ability to make laws that strengthen its power over its citizens by making some people dependent and keeping others from rising to challenge the government's laws.
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