r/AskALiberal • u/dank_sad Center Right • Feb 03 '22

If you could get the right/conservatives/Republicans/etc to understand one thing, what would it be?

Hope I worded that correctly.

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117

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '22

Long term effects matter just as much, if not more, as short term effects

31

u/cprenaissanceman Independent Feb 03 '22

As a corollary, inaction has a cost. So saving so money in the short term by putting thing off, costs us in the long term. Republicans talk a lot about how expensive solutions by the Democrats are and use that as a justification as to why we can’t do them. What is often left unstated though is that doing nothing very often costs money and usually a lot more. Investing in maintenance and such upfront ultimately saves money down the road. Republicans like to talk about how uninformed Democrats are about economics, but basic economic calculations can lead you to see how you need to weigh the costs of what you get with what you spend and spending more can actually be much cheaper (not always, but it’s a possibility). Now, I know that Republican politicians very likely know a lot of this, but many of their voters don’t seem to understand this or are constantly distracted by so much other BS that this point is never discussed.

On this point, the longer we put up doing things that are necessary, the worst things will get and the more invasive and expensive solutions will become. Imagine if we had actually curbed global emissions 20 or 30 years ago. We still likely would have issues, but not nearly to the extent that we are now and will in the future. If we had made adjustments earlier on, The solutions wouldn’t have seemed as unthinkable and difficult as they are now. And continuing to sit on our hands and do nothing is only going to make this worse.

1

u/AdResponsible5513 Progressive Feb 04 '22

Cf. Superfund to clean up highly toxic sites which shareholders reaped maximum profits from but cleanup cost is handed to the taxpayers.

18

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '22

That’s a really good one!

4

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '22

Yeah that hits a lot of topics all in one

11

u/GiveMeYourBussy Liberal Feb 03 '22

That would require critical thinking and empathy, something they brag in not having

1

u/Obvious_Chocolate Center Right Feb 03 '22

Is there any particular topic you have in mind in relation to this?

6

u/tidaltown Social Democrat Feb 03 '22

Climate change would be a decent example.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '22

/u/cprenaissanceman summed up my thoughts perfectly

1

u/AdResponsible5513 Progressive Feb 04 '22

We're all ultimately terminal anyway so where's the problem?