Conservatism & Liberalism

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This is not an exaustive report on either conservatism or Liberalism.  It is not even a report on them.  This is simply a statement about the fact that "mainstream" views change over time, and in a democracy, when mainstream views change, so do the laws.  First off, my interpretation of conservative is "wanting little change", and liberal (or radical) as "wanting things to change".  Much of what we consider "conservative" is actually pretty radical, and much of what we consider 'liberal' is fairly conservative.  A simple example is forms of execution.  In the 1800's, death by hanging was a conservative means of execution, however today, it would be considered a radical means of execution.  Politcally speaking, the civil war was fought over slavery (among other things), in that time, to free the slaves was a radical idea, today as we look back at it, we shudder at the thought of keeping slaves, slavery is not a conservative idea now.  Basically I'm saying that things change, and when they do, things that were socially unacceptable become socially acceptable, and thing that were socially acceptable are no longer acceptablethe mainstream is conservative and doesn't want a whole lot to change, those that go against the flow are radicals or liberal.  Much of what we consider conservative is not, and much of what we consider liberal is not, things are changing.