Comment on Liberalism vs Conservatism

The other day I received a comment, off blog, on my essay Liberalism vs Conservatism. In my essay I said that one group was apt to accept change more easily than the other. The person who commented wrote that perhaps why some people don't want to change things is because of fears of the unknown. This is what I wrote:

I have been thinking about your comment and you are right, there is a fear for change, in challenging the status quo and accepting new things. But sometimes change is necessary for the overall well-being of society, like in the accepting of civil and equal rights for all. Liberals are more likely to address such issues than are conservatives.

Resistance to social change can have a detrimental effect on a community, such as in the resistance of granting equal rights to blacks in America. Conservative in America feared that giving blacks equality would destabilize and erode their way of life. They had a point but consistent resistance to that kind of social change was making things worse because blacks were become more vocal and violent in their demands for social change and equality. Liberals understood better the need for such change, not only for humanitarian reasons but for logical ones and the safety of the community as a whole.

I am now working on another posting and it is about change and its inevitability. Societies that adapt to change and work with it are the most successful. Change offers a vital service. As societies mature they tend to became lazy and complacent, traits that can have a negative effect on their continuance and survival. Change helps knock out the cobwebs that develop from such tendencies. However, resistance to change can also be good. It forces a rethink, a reexamination and a reinforcing of what is important to us like the values and tradition that keep our families and society functioning and stable. In that respect change is a balancing act.

Change is inevitable but we can learn to use it to our advantage. As the saying goes, you have to change to remain the same. And it occurs for two reasons, to move things forward so they don't become stale and to replace the things we use up .