Compassion: a.

Equality: c.

In the minds of Liberals, certain rules don't apply to them, but they do apply to everyone else, particularly Conservatives. For example, they think it is despicable when Conservatives commit sexual indiscretions, or take the country to war, or commit violence against our enemies, or do things that may be interpreted as harmful to certain racial groups or gender/sexual classifications, or are influenced by special interests, or have strong ties to corporations, or who are old, rich, and white, etc. However, it is completely acceptable for Liberals since they have the right intentions. Call it "double standard" or "hypocrisy" or "do as I say and not as I do," nevertheless the Liberals don't see this as contradictory to their passion for equality.

Equality: b.

When it comes to taxes and paying fair shares, the meaning of the word "equality" is different for Conservatives than for Liberals, People on the Right believe it is fair and equitable for everyone to pay proportionally equal taxes for equal work--i.e. they favor a flat tax rate. They figure that if 10% is good enough for God to administer his earthly kingdom, it is good enough for mortal governments. Whereas, people on the Left believe it is fair and equitable for people who make more, to pay disproportionately more--i.e. a graduated tax rate. This way, the "top 10 percent of income earners paid 71 percent of all federal income taxes in 2009 though they earned 43 percent of all income. The bottom 50 percent paid 2 percent of income taxes but earned 13 percent of total income. About half of tax filers paid no federal income tax at all." (heritage.org)

Equality: a.

People on the Right believe that it is equitable to treat different things differently. Children are different from adults, and so when it comes to things like voting, alcohol and tobacco consumption, marriage, contractual obligations, incarceration, etc., it makes sense to treat children differently than adults. Cars are different from buses and semi-trucks and motorcycles and jets, and doctors are different from nurses, and lawyers are different from court stenographers, etc., and so it makes sense to legally license each differently. Movie stars and franchise players bring far more people to the box office than bit players, presidents of countries and corporations tend to be far more important than entry-level workers, and so it makes sense to pay them more for equal work.

Whereas, people on the Left believe it is equitable to treat different things the same. Even though in terms of strength men and women are generally different, the Left thinks it makes sense to put women in the line of fire in burning homes, arresting dangerous criminals, and on the frontlines of war. While in terms of procreation, heterosexual relationships are clearly different from homosexuals, the Left thinks it makes sense to legally define marriage to include homosexuals in spite of the fact that legalization of marriage throughout history has been essentially tied to procreation. Even though the financial viability of men and women's collegiate sports is quite different, the Left thinks it makes sense to compel the latter wherever there is the former. And, even though different students do different levels of scholastic work, the Left thinks it makes sense to grade everyone pretty much the same. The exception to this rule is multi-culturalism. In this case the Left thinks it makes sense to celebrate diversity and disparately focus on select differences.

Movement

Today's translation was inspired by what Dennis Miller said during his radio program.