The difference between a liberal attitude and a conservative attitude in modern society

I think that it is important to distinguish between the liberal philosophy, and today's liberal philosophy implementation. On several levels, liberal philosophy has good points. In it's most succinct form, it just plain feels good to help others. But when it approaches Marxism or socialism then liberalism becomes a problem. Both of these system, along with communism which sprang from them, have failed over and over again around the world. There are reasons for this failure that find their roots at the base of human nature, involving forces like competition, freedom of choice, and human motivation. Be that as it may, this debate is really about the role that liberalism plays in today's America. We see liberals at the root for many of today's problematic proposals…i.e. Universal Healthcare and redistribution of wealth with programs like increased taxes to the wealthy, and increase regulatory and taxes for corporations. In examining these two concepts, we see that they both feel good. On the surface, who would argue with free healthcare for everyone. Similarly, who wouldn't say that we should get more money for the government to redistribute, by taking it from the wealthy, and giving it to the poor. Upon closer examination, we see the fallacy of this idea, and thus the fallacy of liberalism. Individuals and doctors that I know, who live in Canada, and participate in their socialized medicine program, universally declare that it's a burdensome and costly system that limits healthcare options for participants, and de-incentivizes doctors and practitioners across the board. That's why so many Canadians that can afford it, come to the US for their medical procedures. This is not to say that there is not room for improvement within our current medical system…but if we want to make healthcare more affordable, we should start with the conservative concept of tort reform. Setting limits on the HUGE litigious hammer hanging over the heads of America's medical practitioners would result in a rapid reduction in costs for both services and prescriptions, while still giving patients all the options and quality they have grow to expect from the US's medical system. The fallacy of redistribution of wealth by taking from the rich and giving to the poor seems so obvious to the average conservative, but eludes the average liberal mind. The two most obvious problems with this concept are: One the government has proven itself to be terribly inefficient at handling money. Bureaucracy does not beget efficiency. It just will not work. Two, despite talk of companies outsourcing to other countries, there are still only two sources of jobs in this country. One is government and government related or funded entities (none of which pay taxes) and the second is private companies. Private companies play a monumental role in job creation. Increasing their tax burden forces them to cut positions, or encourages further overseas outsourcing. It's always important to remember that private business and corporations are the economic engine of this country…they are the job creators, the tax base upon which governments draw. You can see plenty of examples of this if you look around the country and counties and cities who may have offered ideal climates for business at one time, but then increased taxes and regulations to the point where businesses left, never to return. Job opportunities dropped to all time lows, and the tax base from whence the local governments drew, was diminished to desperate lows. Everyone suffered. Putting these Universal Healthcare and Redistribution of Wealth aside for a moment, lets examine another example of liberalism vs conservatism that is less complex and even more obvious…Gun Control. Gun Control is the perfect example of liberal logic run amuck. They have taken a tool that has been in American hands since our founding, and turned it into a problem of proportions completely out of sync with reality. People can argue statistics and numbers all day long…both sides of this debate seem to be able to generate oppositional statistics to justify their arguments. So for this debate, I will leave statistics to the statisticians and speak to the core of the argument…philosophy and logic. The liberal run anti gun camp, feels that guns kill people, therefore they should be strictly regulated and if at all possible, eliminated. Each time there is an atrocity with a firearm, they push for new legislation removing more gun rights from law abiding citizens. The problem with this is glaringly simple. There are already more than adequate gun laws on the books to stop the vast majority of gun crime…if they were ENFORCED. Introducing new "feel good" legislation that cannot be enforced, when current legislation is already not being enforced is circular logic. But even worse, it can be lethal to law abiding citizens that actually need protection. This is because the ONLY people that will give a damn about these laws are the law abiding citizen…the ones that are not causing the problems to begin with. The criminal or sociopath does not care about law…they do not give a darn about what new legislation is being enacted…they will do what they wish, regardless. All these new laws do is disarm law-abiding citizens so that they can become better victims. In summation, the general concepts of liberalism, as enacted in today's society, seem to reflect the philosophy of "You cannot do it without my (the government and/or the liberal's) help. You are not good enough, smart enough, or capable enough to make your own choices, to succeed in life, business, etc. YOU NEED ME. Furthermore, as a US citizen, you should not be allowed to fail or be accountable…we will prop you up. Conservatives seem to have a philosophy of "You can do it". No matter who you are or where you come from, you can meet your dreams and goals. The government's job is to remove as many barricades from your path as possible. Not to regulate and tax you into oblivion. The government should only be as large as needed to get the job done…it should not grow just for the sake of growing, or provide just to retain power.