I would say three factors concerning Resources:
- How Resources are acquired
- Who owns those Resources
- How to spend/consume the Excess
I’ll split this by Liberal-Left versus Conservative-Right, the x-axis. Liberals, today, believe in high taxes and socialism as means to acquire Resources. So Resources are acquired slowly. Liberals believe that everybody “owns” those Resources. They are owned by Society, not the Individual. Thirdly, Liberals believe to spend the Excess frivolously and “live it up”, leaving little, nothing, or worse, debt to the next generation. Conservatives believe in low taxes and capitalism as means to acquire Resources. Thus they are acquired quickly. Conservatives believe that individuals, small groups, or corporations “own” those Resources. They are owned by Individuals, not the Society. Lastly, Conservatives believe to spend the Excess carefully, sparsely, or not at all, thus comprising a Monopoly or Control of flow of Hedonism. Conservatives have restrictive access to wealth and excess, allowing who they deem ‘worthy’, into the trough. Liberals are against these Restrictions, and want to give everybody access to wealth or High Class.
No, not necessarily, although it can.
I’ve been thinking about your classification system. Here’s my interpretation:
X-axis (left-right) = Liberalism (left) vs Conservatism (right)
y-axis (top-down) = Authoritarian (top) vs Populism (down)
z-axis (forward-back) = Progressivism (forward) vs Regressivism (back)
Most people are simple-minded, common, average, etc. and think that Politics is one or two dimensional (Liberal-Left vs Conservative-Right) when it is 3 or more dimensions. More intelligent minds can have more means of measure and understanding the axis, and peoples’ positions. A society can be Liberal-Populist-Regressive (“Socialist”). Another society can be Conservative-Populist-Progressive (“Secularist”).
Liberal-Authoritarian-Progressive (“Libertarianist”)
I think the three-axis (or more) demonstrate these nuances.
Liberal sexual hedonism would be sex outside marriage, multiple partners, polyamory, bisexuality.
Conservative sexual hedonism is adultery, serial-monogamy, children out of wedlock, maybe homosexuality.
Like you say, either group has their form of Righteousness. Liberals consider themselves Morally-Superior, Haughty, eating “green” and paleo.
While Conservatives consider themselves superior by High Class, High Dining, Cultural Sophistication, etc.
Liberal and Conservative elitists attack each other with “my Morality is better to/superior than yours”.
Skip to 45:45 mark, about Immigration, Environmentalism, and selling-out.
(I was rewatching this video earlier tonight and it’s very relevant.)
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3PR2_jO2Go[/youtube]
I think “Liberalism vs Conservatism” is best founded upon, as I mentioned above,
Resource Acquisition
Resource Ownership
Resource Excess
I’d clarify to say “Rewards and Excess” is always good, but not Hedonism. Hedonism is explicitly bad in a severe/austere/scarce environment.
It’s interesting how poor, disparate, displaced, and anti-American groups within the US, are introduced to Hedonism. Nobody really talks about this. But is American wealth ‘owed’ to fresh immigrants, who have not lived here or been patriated? Are African immigrants, beyond 2000, still “black-American”, although they technically have not been slaves? Are Reparations owed to them, based on race-alone? How about Moslems, what do they think of American Hedonism, except repulsion, disgust, and leads to more animosity? Or how about welfare-dependents, are they owed Excess? Should poor people be able to buy beer, cigarettes, and junk food with food-stamps? Etc.
Agreed, going down-up in Wealth is dangerous as is going up-down, back to poor, is dangerous.
Ideally, people should be ‘hedonistic’ with Excess and Wealth, ‘stoic’ with Austerity and Scarcity.
I believe that “Liberal”, by definition, is going to “spend it all away” more or faster than Conservatives. But, yes, both will spend it away, or lose it eventually.
The relevant shift now is from a Capitalist/Meritocracy, to Socialist/Aristocracy, where Resources become further entrenched through Inheritance. This leads to strict Class rigidity and severe restriction of class-mobility.
I don’t think there’s necessarily a “correct” way to act with Excess, Abundance, and Wealth. I personally prefer stoicism, and so see myself as Conservative/Conservationist in that regard. But I also understand the importance of “letting yourself go” and indulging. Sometimes people should reward themselves and relax, especially when they deserve it. America is still lingering with Hedonism from the Post-World War Victories. But that Excess is running out. You can’t stay High forever. You need to win the next wars too.
US is becoming polarized. I look to “white-flight”, out of racial minority areas, leading to Fragmentation. There comes a point when non-whites create simply undesirable areas where nobody, not even themselves, want to live. These quagmires are bad-bad, all around. Lose-lose. So “racism” would be good, to solve that dilemma, but it’s a blind-spot to Liberals and Liberalism. They can’t imagine a means of solving it, and so simply give-up and themselves flee.
That’s part of the struggle of the overclass versus underclass. Liberals want to say Excess/Wealth should be spent this way, Conservatives say it should be spent that way or not at all.
Yes, and then when there is a consolidation of “White-America”, it’s labeled as a threat, white-nationalism, “racist”, etc. I think the “Racist” label is being played-out. The more Liberal-Left scream, emotional hysteria, and fearmonger, the middle or Center develops resistance or immunity. At this point, fine, I’m a white-nationlist, so what? What are you going to do about it? I care about my family more than yours. Don’t you? And yes, it turns out, Liberals care about their families more than other peoples’. They’re no better, and especially no moral authority. Furthermore, if you want to attack my family, or simply, teach American youth that “gender is fluid”, then maybe some fighting needs to happen to prevent this, to protect the sexual perversion of children. If the opposition is so low, so immoral, then fuck them, they will lose sooner or later.
Europeans would hurt a neighboring country rather than deal with a problem themselves though. In fact this is how and why European countries are literally selling their foreign immigrants to neighbors, or paying Turkey to stop immigrants from Africa. They are putting a dollar $ symbol to the problem. Europeans don’t work as a ‘whole’, as a nationality, except in last-ditch efforts of all-out warfare. Europeans are only unified during severe wars or existential threats (like the Ottoman invasion attempt, Mongolians or Huns long ago, etc).
Again, I tell you, I can’t even watch television commercials or programs anymore. The propaganda is so bad, mixed-race here, miscegenation, all these subliminal messages, it’s overload. It’s grotesque what US “Mass Media” has become. The message is black-and-white now, obvious. I think lots of people are become repulsed and revile over how far US Culture has receded and degraded.