I used to think in my youth that liberals were compassionate and non-liberals were uncaring.
Booooooooooooyyyy was I wrong.
The way I see it now [in very broad strokes and of course it doesn't apply to every liberal or every non-liberal]:
Liberals and non-liberals/conservatives are both compassionate. They are just compassionate in different ways and to different types of people.
Liberals are compassionate to animals. Non-liberals prefer human beings.
Liberals are compassionate to minorities by trying to give them lots of stuff to make their lives easier. Non-liberals contend that their lives will be made easier if they have to work hard and earn their stuff.
Liberals are compassionate to mothers of their unborn babies [or so they claim - countless women end up regretting killing their babies in utero]. Non-liberals are compassionate towards the defenseless babies.
Liberals are compassionate to Arabs. Non-liberals are compassionate to Israelis.
Liberals are compassionate to every sexual diversion possible. Non-liberals are sensitive to the need for strong, nuclear families. [Is there one liberal in the USA with six or more children from one wife?? There are loads and loads of conservatives who meet that description].
Liberals are sensitive to criminals. Non-liberals are sensitive to the victims of the criminals.
Liberals are sensitive to women's rights. Non-liberals claim that we are serving women better when we don't try to make them like men but to nurture their feminine side [wifehood, motherhood etc.].
Liberals are compassionate to the environment. Non-liberals are compassionate to human needs even at the expense of the environment.
Liberals are compassionate to the body [eat, drink, exercise etc.]. Non-liberals are more compassionate to the soul.
Liberals emphasize individual rights. Non-liberals emphasize individual obligations - towards G-d and other human beings.
Liberals and non-liberals are all human beings created in the image of G-d. As such, they all have a G-dly side. I don't even question whether either side means well. Even though I am not a liberal, I don't think that as a whole, non-liberals are more well meaning than liberals. The only question is - whose compassion is well placed and whose is misplaced. Because compassion and sensitivity to one group will often come at the cost of the same for a second group. That is why we are obligated first and foremost to care for ourselves and families, then our communities, then Klal Yisrael as a whole, then all of mankind, then animals and the environment. A person can be really compassionate towards a tree and beat his wife and children. It is well known with how much care the Nazis ימ"ש treated their pets. Compassion is a topic that must be studied in order that is should not be distorted.
