The "Love your enemies" thread

[KarateCowboy]

Debate debate debate. It's good stuff. We talk about issues and try to prove our points as well as iron out our own beliefs about the world and persuade others to our view (or just prove to the world how right we are). In this we sometimes deride others and it turns into a cut fight.
Christ said to love your enemies. Keeping in that spirit the point of this thread is for people recognize five good qualities in their ideological foes. If you're a liberal try and find five good traits in conservatives, if you're a conservative do likewise for liberals. If you're a centrist like myself then you have twice as much work to do. There are no wrong answers here.

I'll go first:
Liberals:
1) Are very concerned with the environment.
2) Are more apt to take risks of greater failure in hope of greater success.
3) Have done much for the cause of integration in America for the sake of understanding and easing racial conflicts.
4) Have made it easier in society for a guy to show his feelings and not be ashamed.
5) Are very vigilant in the protection of women's liberties.

Coservatives:
1) Are committed to the tried and true.
2) Know the value of being safe rather than sorry.
3) Have strived to keep us focused on sticking together and honoring your country.
4) Are good at stressing individual responsibility.
5) Did a lot for bringing about the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe.

 

[Pinp]

Luke 6:35

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked

 

[Arnold_Philips]

I hate centrists!

 

[Thirst_For_Knowledge]

Conservatives:
1.) OG Conservatives are very good at defending free speech rights
2.) Conservatives are often on the same side as be with business rights
3.) A lot of Conservatives are very attractive
4.) I don't like guns, but there is no doubt in my mind that everyone has a right to one, something that Conservatives are very good at defending

 

[Eryk]

Conservatives:

1. Newt Gingrich's leadership: He rallied his party, the congress, and the president to balance the budget.

2. Ronald Reagan: On the right side of history in opposing communism, and he also signed a treaty with Gorbachev.

3. Republicans emphasize responsibility instead of making excuses for criminals, and work for the able-bodied instead of crippling dependency.

 

[MethodMan]

Are we talking about politicians or people?

 

[Kgreg]

My liberal "enemies"

1) advocate for the disadvantaged.
2) advocate for equality.
3) hold peace as a goal.
4) discourage nationalism and ethnocentrism.
5) question authority.

 

[KarateCowboy]

Are we talking about politicians or people?

Well I'd like to think politicians are still people but sometimes I wonder as well. You can do either. Or you can just talk about ideology. Like I said, there are no wrong answers here.

 

[NateBlack]

While I often disagree with conservatives, I do not count them as enemies. They are friends, family members, co-workers, church members, etc...

Here are five good points for conservatives:
1. Very committed to their faith.
2. Concernced about children & the family.
3. Promote capitalism & self-sufficiency.
4. Promote individualism & small-government.
5. Are often great business people.
6. They try very hard to be good, loving people.
... I could go on...

 

[MethodMan]

Well I'd like to think politicians are still people but sometimes I wonder as well.

Politcal pandering has created a strong dislike almost hatred fro liberalism.

You can do either. Or you can just talk about ideology. Like I said, there are no wrong answers here.

Well, Christ came to the Jews in love and told them exactly what they were doing wrong. In that vane:

1. Claiming to be concerned for the environment and falsely accussing Conservatives of not caring is one of the biggest political successes of the left - It is a lie, but one they get away with.

2. They will risk everything that has made this country a strong leader to appease a peace. They have taken "Love your enemy" to a "Become a door mat to the World" attitude. While it sounds good, they have taken an instruction for the individual and projected it for an entire country.

3. They have created more racial tensions while trying to calm them. Integration has morphed into change America as a whole instead of the individual actually taking the steps to becoming the American.

4. They have promoted acting on emotions in the name of tolerance while being intolerant of decent to that very notion in the name of political correctness.

5. Political compromise means do it my way to the liberal. NCLB, drafted by a liberal, is a fine example.


Do they mean harm? I do not believe so. Some of the tactics taken by activists are certainly questionable. The reason I asked about "People vs Politicians" is because where I work, attend Church and in my neighborhood, there are fine people that have a difference of opinion. Family reunions are a trip. We have discussions much like you are attempting here. We agree to disagree and hope for the best. We hold each other accountable for mistakes and honor success. In the National arena, this has fallen to what you see in today's media. Doom - Gloom - all bad. Look fo more.

Do liberal people want a clean environment? Certainly - But so do conservatives. The same could be said in reverse about many other issues. What happened in New Orleans last year is a fine example of what the Federal Gov't can actually do in crisis. Problem is, other than acts of war, it was not designed to do so.

 

[NateBlack]

Do they mean harm? I do not believe so.

Thanks for the positive thought!

 

[gwenmead]

I am not going to label my own social/political leanings here. Neither am I going to imply what they are by choosing a "side" as my "enemy". I find that kind of divisive, even though this thread is about understanding positive things about the "other side".

I don't really think there is an "other side", just people who think and believe differently than I do. So my list of 5 things is about what I think both liberals and conservatives want - a list of common ground issues, so to speak.

Both liberals and conservatives want/seek:

1. Economic prosperity for themselves and their nation.
2. Their children to have a good education.
3. To live in safe, secure homes and neighborhoods.
4. To have access to good medical care.
5. To live and worship as they see fit, without fear of attack by others.

Probably all of these are ultimately no-brainers. I mean, what human being doesn't want to live in a world where they're healthy, have enough food, water, money, and so on?

I think it's easy to forget that both liberals and conservatives are ultimately seeking a lot of the same basic things, though, just using different methods to get there. I bring it up because a lot of the time I think that the conflict between different political positions isn't so much about the basics, as about the methodology.

Anyway. I'm kind of rambling now anyway. Thanks for reading.

 

[Arnold_Philips]

Politcal pandering has created a strong dislike almost hatred fro liberalism.



Well, Christ came to the Jews in love and told them exactly what they were doing wrong. In that vane:

1. Claiming to be concerned for the environment and falsely accussing Conservatives of not caring is one of the biggest political successes of the left - It is a lie, but one they get away with.

2. They will risk everything that has made this country a strong leader to appease a peace. They have taken "Love your enemy" to a "Become a door mat to the World" attitude. While it sounds good, they have taken an instruction for the individual and projected it for an entire country.

3. They have created more racial tensions while trying to calm them. Integration has morphed into change America as a whole instead of the individual actually taking the steps to becoming the American.

4. They have promoted acting on emotions in the name of tolerance while being intolerant of decent to that very notion in the name of political correctness.

5. Political compromise means do it my way to the liberal. NCLB, drafted by a liberal, is a fine example.


Do they mean harm? I do not believe so. Some of the tactics taken by activists are certainly questionable. The reason I asked about "People vs Politicians" is because where I work, attend Church and in my neighborhood, there are fine people that have a difference of opinion. Family reunions are a trip. We have discussions much like you are attempting here. We agree to disagree and hope for the best. We hold each other accountable for mistakes and honor success. In the National arena, this has fallen to what you see in today's media. Doom - Gloom - all bad. Look fo more.

Do liberal people want a clean environment? Certainly - But so do conservatives. The same could be said in reverse about many other issues. What happened in New Orleans last year is a fine example of what the Federal Gov't can actually do in crisis. Problem is, other than acts of war, it was not designed to do so.

I guess you didn't understand the point of the thread.

 

[MethodMan]

I guess you didn't understand the point of the thread.

I understood it ok. You just didn't get an answer you wanted.

 

[Arnold_Philips]

I understood it ok. You just didn't get an answer you wanted.

You're a riot.

 

[KarateCowboy]

I understood it ok. You just didn't get an answer you wanted.

Aren't we clever?

 

[MethodMan]

Aren't we clever?

We? (J.K.)

Not trying to be clever. Not going to roll over either.

 

[Aimee30]

Republican conservatives (in office) have pretty much made themselves my enemies, but I guess I could find something good about them:

1. Believe that everyone has a right to life. (Although, sometimes it seems to be taken to an extreme compared to what I believe is fair).

2. Do make some good decisions occasionally.

3. Haven't caused the country of the United States to be full-scale attacked by another country yet.

4. There could be worse people in power, like another Hitler or Nero.

That's the best I could do. By the way, I only score slightly to the liberal side on political tests, so I'm not much of liberal either.

 

[Aimee30]

Politcal pandering has created a strong dislike almost hatred fro liberalism.



Well, Christ came to the Jews in love and told them exactly what they were doing wrong. In that vane:

1. Claiming to be concerned for the environment and falsely accussing Conservatives of not caring is one of the biggest political successes of the left - It is a lie, but one they get away with.

2. They will risk everything that has made this country a strong leader to appease a peace. They have taken "Love your enemy" to a "Become a door mat to the World" attitude. While it sounds good, they have taken an instruction for the individual and projected it for an entire country.

3. They have created more racial tensions while trying to calm them. Integration has morphed into change America as a whole instead of the individual actually taking the steps to becoming the American.

4. They have promoted acting on emotions in the name of tolerance while being intolerant of decent to that very notion in the name of political correctness.

5. Political compromise means do it my way to the liberal. NCLB, drafted by a liberal, is a fine example.


Do they mean harm? I do not believe so. Some of the tactics taken by activists are certainly questionable. The reason I asked about "People vs Politicians" is because where I work, attend Church and in my neighborhood, there are fine people that have a difference of opinion. Family reunions are a trip. We have discussions much like you are attempting here. We agree to disagree and hope for the best. We hold each other accountable for mistakes and honor success. In the National arena, this has fallen to what you see in today's media. Doom - Gloom - all bad. Look fo more.

Do liberal people want a clean environment? Certainly - But so do conservatives. The same could be said in reverse about many other issues. What happened in New Orleans last year is a fine example of what the Federal Gov't can actually do in crisis. Problem is, other than acts of war, it was not designed to do so.

Tell Bush about the clean environment when he made it easier for factories to get away with more pollution.
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200409/bush_record_print.asp


Why do conservatives say the economy is getting strionger when people are still losing their jobs?
http://www.vdare.com/roberts/060131_deception.htm


Why do we have to kill people from other nations to prove we are strong? This includes the civillians that are killed, not just the soldiers. Think of the little kids like the one that had his eyes blown out and is now blind because he played with one of our little weapons, like it was a toy tat I saw on the news. See link below:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/R?r108:FLD001:E01487

There some decent alternatives to what conservatives do--you don't have to go to war with a country based on the idea it might have some weapons of mass destruction and it might be part of Al Qaida. Why couldn't they have sent some spies to bring back some decent evidence anyway? Here is Wkipedia's article on this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction


The problem is, with the way you represent liberals, are you acknowledging that conservatives have their problems too?