THE FAMILY

The American family provides a good metaphor for the conservative and liberal conditions. I’m talking about the traditional family. Not one of those “Jimmy has two mommies” lifestyle arrangements. This family has a mom and a dad and a few kids.
Conservatives are represented by the parents, liberals by the children. The parents are charged with keeping the family safe and also working so they can provide food and shelter and other essentials. Because of their hard work and the fact that they live in the greatest country on earth, the parents are often able to buy luxuries for the family. The kids are occasionally consulted on these purchases but the final decision rests with the parents. Kids are not good at making rational decisions and will too often act only in their narrow self interest. Besides, mom and dad are paying for it!

Because children cannot protect themselves, the parents make sure they are safe.
Kids often don’t recognize even obvious danger. They could be at the edge of a cliff,
picking daisies, not even aware that they are one step from disaster. The parents are there to pull them back from the precipice, saving them from their foolish wandering.

As kids grow up, they are expected to do some minor work (chores) around the house. In later years they are encouraged to get actual paying jobs outside the home. The parents do this because they know that children are not born with an innate appreciation of money. If kids continue to get money from their parents, their appreciation never develops while their reliance on it grows. Work also helps children learn responsibility
and develop skills. As their skills improve this fosters the development of genuine self esteem and pride in accomplishment. These are often trying times for both the kids and the parents. Kids will often complain about being under paid and will sometimes fail at things they try. This brings no joy to the parents but, as responsible adults, they know that telling their kids they are doing great at something when in reality they suck will only hurt them in the long run.

Childhood should be just a whacky phase where silly ideas are developed by those unfettered by the constraints of reality. Consistent guidance is required to ensure proper development. Kids will often lie to cover their ass or to hide their true intentions. Left to their own devices, kids can cause havoc and create messes that the parents have to clean up.
Ideally, all children would grow up and become responsible adults. Unfortunately, this is not the case. For some reason, way too many kids never fully mature either intellectually or morally and they become liberals with voting rights. Dangerous, indeed, but that is a topic for another day.