Posted by
The Proud Liberal on Sunday, June 08, 2008 9:40:09 AM
Conservatives are quick to point out that individuals are born with variable talents and that the distribution of variable talents within society lead to variable consequences. The fact is on most things there is a range from lowest to highest, i.e., athletic ability, mathematical ability, honesty, integrity, etc. It's logical that consequences should not be equal.
Conservatives, however, usually draw very narrow conclusions about the variability of talents and traits and personality and temperaments within society and the human race. Usually, conservatives constrain this correct observation to the disposition of wealth. They point out, again correctly, that those individuals who have the most of a particular talent will be the most successful in that area and, in many cases, success will be accompanied by money. The good society, conservatives say, will provide everyone with an equal opportunity to compete against one another, enabling those with the most talent to achieve their just deserts.
At the same time conservatives fail to recognize and respect human variability in the area of sexual traits. Some people are highly sexed. Some are not. Some people are very masculine or very feminine, some are not. Conservatives fail to grant equal opportunity in the expression of sex. Conservatives retreat to a belief that there must be a standardized, not variable, sexual distribution.
This is a confusion and a contradiction in conservative philosophy which conservatives do not recognize about themselves.