Valentine’s Day just ended and I’ve decided, out of the kindness of my heart, to provide a public service and discuss the traumatic, conflicting and combative, yet never-ending relationship between liberals and conservatives. They are valentines who hate each other’s company but go out every year. However, when properly juxtaposed with each other, the comparison clearly reveals how conservative principles empower and respect the individual while liberals seek to control and limit individual liberty in the process of redistributing wealth from one individual to another  — one who is supposedly more deserving.

Progressive liberals such as the Fabian Society, Henry Rogers Seager, Woodrow Wilson, welfare state proponents and radical 1960s movement organize around one idea: equality. In order to equalize society, a certain amount of liberty must be restrained and dispersed through government. Today’s liberals go beyond the reasonable trade-off of liberty and equality and put a powerful centralized government before all else. Government exists to limit individual liberty, private property rights and religious freedom. To them, average citizens are incapable of making the right decisions on their own, so they empower undemocratic institutions to make decisions by mandate, through the courts and federal agencies. Moreover, through courts, the bureaucracy, entitlements and some academia, they seek to create an undying liberal agenda in government. Their agenda is a recipe for a more aggressive government. Liberals divide society by skin pigmentation, religion, sex and income in an effort to create jealousy among Americans — to keep them agitated, unfocused and distrustful of each other. The solution is always more government intervention to “level the playing field.”

Modern conservatism, inspired by Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, William F. Buckley, Russell Kirk and Ronald Reagan, is a philosophy you live. Conservatives believe each individual is a unique being who is responsible for their own development. We think friends, family and private institutions such as synagogues, churches, mosques, nonprofits, etc. are the best support groups for individuals within their community. Conservatives, like the founding fathers, believe the Declaration of Independence — that God, not government, grants us natural, inalienable, self-evident rights. Conservatives believe a powerful centralized government, save prudent national security, threatens individual rights.

Liberals seek a powerful centralized government to promote equality and compliance while trampling individuality, private property, family and faith. Their governmental model seeks to control behavior through laws and regulations over private property rights in order to redistribute wealth where they see fit. Conservatives respect the property and wealth of other citizens and don’t envy their success. We don’t support politicians who steal from us on another’s behalf. Conservatives believe in the Constitution, federalism and the diffusion of power between levels of government. We believe in individuals creating opportunity through merit in a colorblind society. We believe in low taxes and low spending as a percentage of GDP. Conservatives believe in the greatness of the American people, their compassion, creativity and dignity.

In today’s new era of civility, it’s crucial that these opposing philosophies go out on Valentine’s Day. These casual dates are an important building block for American political culture, so when election day comes every other year, regardless of who wins, the loser knows how to peacefully transfer power without the nation descending into an advanced state of disruption and chaos that is seen elsewhere in the world.