“CONSERVATIVES” VS “LIBERALS” IN THE USA AND EUROPE
Since our Internet site morethanonelife.com is read by people born and educated in the USA as well as people born and educated in Europe and/or Russia (former USSR, Soviet Union) I should explain difference in meaning of the terms “conservative” and “liberal” in American and European/Russian political, social and economic lives. I feel I should do it to eliminate any misunderstanding between us and our readers and even embarrassment as it has happened few times with myself soon after our immigration to the USA.
Even now, 40 years after we arrived to the USA, my English, as the reader has already noticed, is far from good. When we have arrived as refugees I could not speak and I could not understand English. Detroit community helped me to find my first job; I started working 40 hours a week in about six weeks after entering United States and continued looking for better job. In about three months I found better job with large company in Middle West and stayed with the company next 36 years, first as a scientist and later as a consultant. In new office I was like “a white crow” – there was no other Russians in radius 100 miles. Most people saw a Russian first time in their life. During lunch break I usually sat with other engineers and they asked me questions about life in the USSR. I asked them about what I heard on TV news previous night. Till I did not understand much, everything I heard on TV sounded more or less reasonable. However, after few months I started to understand words and some phrases but I could not understand meaning of what I heard on news shows and on political discussion shows. I think it was the end of 1977 or maybe beginning of 1978, first year of Carter’s presidency, when during one of lunch discussions someone asked me what I think about positions of democratic and republican parties or something like that. I answered that I do not know much, but since I already knew, that Democratic Party is liberal one and Republican Party is conservative one, I would support Democrats as I always supported forbidden by government liberals in the USSR; term “conservative” was swear-word for my friends in Russia, conservatives were shameless supporters of the Communist Party and Communist Government. Only in few years I understood why some of my colleagues started avoiding me after that statement about liberals and conservatives during the lunch.
In the USSR (socialist/communist Russia) term “liberal” is used in the original, nineteenth-century sense in which it is currently used in Russia and Europe. Milton Friedman, famous American economist, used terms liberal and conservatives in the same sense as in Europe and Russia; in his “Introduction to the 1994 edition of “The Road to Serfdom”, by F.A. Hayek”, Milton Friedman defined “…a liberal order …, in which government activity is limited primarily to establishing the frame-work within which individuals are free to pursue their own objectives. The free market is the only mechanism that has ever been discovered for achieving participatory democracy.” However in the USA term “liberal” in various political, social and economic publications as well as on various TV and radio shows and discussions very often has exactly opposite meaning, which is very close to term “conservative” in Europe and Russia. The same is true for term “conservative” – in the USA it means very much the same what the term “liberal” means in Europe and Russia. Definitions of American terms can be found in many publications. In one of American publications I found following statement: “The term conservative or liberal is used to describe political and economic views and affiliations. The meaning of "conservative" or "liberal" could be different in different contexts - social, economic and political. They also differ in usage in different countries and over time.” If this statement is correct (and I believe it is) then both terms practically may have many different meanings or, what is the same, no meaning at all, till the person, using the terms, defines political, social and economic views he attaches to the term.
I did not know for some time that mentioned above discrepancy in terminology existed and exist in the USA, although I knew that many American left liberals-democrats, including President Carter, sounded to me as active members of CPSS (Communist party of the Soviet Union) and sometimes take positions on the right of Communists. Let me repeat one more time – to be on the right of Russian Communists means to be on the left of American democrats-liberals. Sorry to say it but existence of this terminological mess did not crystallized in my mind for many years till I first time (about 1990) read famous book “The Road to Serfdom”, text and Documents, The definitive Edition, by F.A. Hayek (original text 1944, last edition 2007). In 1944 F.A. Hayek wrote that discrepancy exists for many years.
I am afraid that discussed terminological mess creates some problems for students of socio-economic sciences in the United States, Europe or for that matter in any university of any country of the world. I would not be surprised if one day we will find out that the mess has been created intentionally by liberal professors of American universities or conservative professors of European universities. It helps them to mislead and poison minds of young people in school and colleges by socialist/communist/Nazi propaganda. They understood long time ago that minds of young people can be saturated by ideas of socialism/communism/naziism much easier than minds of adults, peoples with life experience. Therefore during last hundred fifty years American liberals and European/Russian conservatives spent a lot of efforts to put teachers and teachers unions under their control. And they were and are successful in their efforts since young people have big hearts and limited knowledge of real life*). That combination of big hearts and low information makes young people easy victims for socialist/communist/nazi propaganda and the best ally of extreme liberals, socialists, Nazis, communists and progressives. History of old (before 1917) Russia, USSR, Nazi Germany, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, East Germany, Cuba, and many other socialist and communist countries of the world proved that young low information people can be easily controlled and used for any kind of bloody-red revolution.
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*) As Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) said “Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.”
B.V. January 2016
Since our Internet site morethanonelife.com is read by people born and educated in the USA as well as people born and educated in Europe and/or Russia (former USSR, Soviet Union) I should explain difference in meaning of the terms “conservative” and “liberal” in American and European/Russian political, social and economic lives. I feel I should do it to eliminate any misunderstanding between us and our readers and even embarrassment as it has happened few times with myself soon after our immigration to the USA.
Even now, 40 years after we arrived to the USA, my English, as the reader has already noticed, is far from good. When we have arrived as refugees I could not speak and I could not understand English. Detroit community helped me to find my first job; I started working 40 hours a week in about six weeks after entering United States and continued looking for better job. In about three months I found better job with large company in Middle West and stayed with the company next 36 years, first as a scientist and later as a consultant. In new office I was like “a white crow” – there was no other Russians in radius 100 miles. Most people saw a Russian first time in their life. During lunch break I usually sat with other engineers and they asked me questions about life in the USSR. I asked them about what I heard on TV news previous night. Till I did not understand much, everything I heard on TV sounded more or less reasonable. However, after few months I started to understand words and some phrases but I could not understand meaning of what I heard on news shows and on political discussion shows. I think it was the end of 1977 or maybe beginning of 1978, first year of Carter’s presidency, when during one of lunch discussions someone asked me what I think about positions of democratic and republican parties or something like that. I answered that I do not know much, but since I already knew, that Democratic Party is liberal one and Republican Party is conservative one, I would support Democrats as I always supported forbidden by government liberals in the USSR; term “conservative” was swear-word for my friends in Russia, conservatives were shameless supporters of the Communist Party and Communist Government. Only in few years I understood why some of my colleagues started avoiding me after that statement about liberals and conservatives during the lunch.
In the USSR (socialist/communist Russia) term “liberal” is used in the original, nineteenth-century sense in which it is currently used in Russia and Europe. Milton Friedman, famous American economist, used terms liberal and conservatives in the same sense as in Europe and Russia; in his “Introduction to the 1994 edition of “The Road to Serfdom”, by F.A. Hayek”, Milton Friedman defined “…a liberal order …, in which government activity is limited primarily to establishing the frame-work within which individuals are free to pursue their own objectives. The free market is the only mechanism that has ever been discovered for achieving participatory democracy.” However in the USA term “liberal” in various political, social and economic publications as well as on various TV and radio shows and discussions very often has exactly opposite meaning, which is very close to term “conservative” in Europe and Russia. The same is true for term “conservative” – in the USA it means very much the same what the term “liberal” means in Europe and Russia. Definitions of American terms can be found in many publications. In one of American publications I found following statement: “The term conservative or liberal is used to describe political and economic views and affiliations. The meaning of "conservative" or "liberal" could be different in different contexts - social, economic and political. They also differ in usage in different countries and over time.” If this statement is correct (and I believe it is) then both terms practically may have many different meanings or, what is the same, no meaning at all, till the person, using the terms, defines political, social and economic views he attaches to the term.
I did not know for some time that mentioned above discrepancy in terminology existed and exist in the USA, although I knew that many American left liberals-democrats, including President Carter, sounded to me as active members of CPSS (Communist party of the Soviet Union) and sometimes take positions on the right of Communists. Let me repeat one more time – to be on the right of Russian Communists means to be on the left of American democrats-liberals. Sorry to say it but existence of this terminological mess did not crystallized in my mind for many years till I first time (about 1990) read famous book “The Road to Serfdom”, text and Documents, The definitive Edition, by F.A. Hayek (original text 1944, last edition 2007). In 1944 F.A. Hayek wrote that discrepancy exists for many years.
I am afraid that discussed terminological mess creates some problems for students of socio-economic sciences in the United States, Europe or for that matter in any university of any country of the world. I would not be surprised if one day we will find out that the mess has been created intentionally by liberal professors of American universities or conservative professors of European universities. It helps them to mislead and poison minds of young people in school and colleges by socialist/communist/Nazi propaganda. They understood long time ago that minds of young people can be saturated by ideas of socialism/communism/naziism much easier than minds of adults, peoples with life experience. Therefore during last hundred fifty years American liberals and European/Russian conservatives spent a lot of efforts to put teachers and teachers unions under their control. And they were and are successful in their efforts since young people have big hearts and limited knowledge of real life*). That combination of big hearts and low information makes young people easy victims for socialist/communist/nazi propaganda and the best ally of extreme liberals, socialists, Nazis, communists and progressives. History of old (before 1917) Russia, USSR, Nazi Germany, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, East Germany, Cuba, and many other socialist and communist countries of the world proved that young low information people can be easily controlled and used for any kind of bloody-red revolution.
------
*) As Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) said “Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.”
B.V. January 2016
