Derek Thompson

I think liberals are more likely to tolerate a little bit of overreach, a little bit of radicalism in terms of trying to push society into a world where it hasn't been. Well, I think conservatives are more likely to tolerate injustice. They're more likely to say there's a kind of natural inequality in the nature of the world, and we're not going to try to overcorrect forward with our policies.

I think liberals are more likely to tolerate a little bit of overreach, a little bit of radicalism in terms of trying to push society into a world where it hasn't been. Well, I think conservatives are more likely to tolerate injustice. They're more likely to say there's a kind of natural inequality in the nature of the world, and we're not going to try to overcorrect forward with our policies.

I think liberals are more likely to tolerate a little bit of overreach, a little bit of radicalism in terms of trying to push society into a world where it hasn't been. Well, I think conservatives are more likely to tolerate injustice. They're more likely to say there's a kind of natural inequality in the nature of the world, and we're not going to try to overcorrect forward with our policies.

And so I think that Even at a layer above what Ezra was articulating with the policy differences between liberals and conservatives, there's almost like an archetypal difference between what they fear and value and tolerate.

And so I think that Even at a layer above what Ezra was articulating with the policy differences between liberals and conservatives, there's almost like an archetypal difference between what they fear and value and tolerate.

And so I think that Even at a layer above what Ezra was articulating with the policy differences between liberals and conservatives, there's almost like an archetypal difference between what they fear and value and tolerate.

Liberals fearing injustice, seeking change, tolerating sometimes a bit of what people might think of as overreach, while conservatives fear that overreach, value tradition, and often tolerate injustice.

Liberals fearing injustice, seeking change, tolerating sometimes a bit of what people might think of as overreach, while conservatives fear that overreach, value tradition, and often tolerate injustice.

Liberals fearing injustice, seeking change, tolerating sometimes a bit of what people might think of as overreach, while conservatives fear that overreach, value tradition, and often tolerate injustice.

Cutting is really hard. Government spends trillions of dollars. And if you cut billions of dollars, someone is going to feel that pain and they're going to scream. And so you look at defense spending under Reagan, you look at overall spending under Reagan. Reagan might be one of the most archetypally conservative presidents of the last 40, 50 years.

Cutting is really hard. Government spends trillions of dollars. And if you cut billions of dollars, someone is going to feel that pain and they're going to scream. And so you look at defense spending under Reagan, you look at overall spending under Reagan. Reagan might be one of the most archetypally conservative presidents of the last 40, 50 years.

Cutting is really hard. Government spends trillions of dollars. And if you cut billions of dollars, someone is going to feel that pain and they're going to scream. And so you look at defense spending under Reagan, you look at overall spending under Reagan. Reagan might be one of the most archetypally conservative presidents of the last 40, 50 years.

He utterly failed in his attempt to shrink government. Government grew under Reagan. Defense grew, all sorts of programs grew. So I think that one thing we're sort of scrambling around in our answers is that at a really high level, there are differences between liberalism and conservatism in American history. But often at the level of implementation, it can be a little bit messy.

He utterly failed in his attempt to shrink government. Government grew under Reagan. Defense grew, all sorts of programs grew. So I think that one thing we're sort of scrambling around in our answers is that at a really high level, there are differences between liberalism and conservatism in American history. But often at the level of implementation, it can be a little bit messy.

He utterly failed in his attempt to shrink government. Government grew under Reagan. Defense grew, all sorts of programs grew. So I think that one thing we're sort of scrambling around in our answers is that at a really high level, there are differences between liberalism and conservatism in American history. But often at the level of implementation, it can be a little bit messy.

Even Bush's foreign policy that Ezra was describing, sort of from a big sense of American history, is very like Wilsonian, right? This sense of like it's America's duty to go out and change the world. Or to use a current example, McKinleyan. Or McKinley and right. And a lot of people compare Donald Trump's foreign policy to Andrew Jackson. This sense of we need to pull back from the world.

Even Bush's foreign policy that Ezra was describing, sort of from a big sense of American history, is very like Wilsonian, right? This sense of like it's America's duty to go out and change the world. Or to use a current example, McKinleyan. Or McKinley and right. And a lot of people compare Donald Trump's foreign policy to Andrew Jackson. This sense of we need to pull back from the world.

Even Bush's foreign policy that Ezra was describing, sort of from a big sense of American history, is very like Wilsonian, right? This sense of like it's America's duty to go out and change the world. Or to use a current example, McKinleyan. Or McKinley and right. And a lot of people compare Donald Trump's foreign policy to Andrew Jackson. This sense of we need to pull back from the world.

America first. We need to care about what's inside of our borders and care much less about what's outside of our borders. Sometimes the differences between Republican and Democrat administrations don't fall cleanly into the lines of liberal versus conservative because those definitions can be mushy.

America first. We need to care about what's inside of our borders and care much less about what's outside of our borders. Sometimes the differences between Republican and Democrat administrations don't fall cleanly into the lines of liberal versus conservative because those definitions can be mushy.