Change must come if things are to get better for the disabled:There are four types of political philosophy. They are the following: conservative thought, moderate thought, liberal thought,and Progressive thought. Why should the disabled worry about them? They should because each deals with how change should occur if it occurs at all. Change must occur if things are to get better. I will therefore discuss each and let you decide which philosophy is better for the disabled. When you decide, you must turn this knowledge into action and educate the people. Only through education will change come. Conservatism believes that the status quo must be maintained at all costs. Its proponents believe that if change comes it should be slow, so slow that it isn't change at all. This attitude also extends to change which has been shown necessary. How can maintaining the status quo help the disabled when fundamental change may be necessary? If change isn't forthcoming then it's business as usual and disability will continue to grow unchecked. More and more money will be spent just to keep this growing population on government aid. If this happens, then some people may look upon us as leeches on government. If we are so viewed then what could be the logical conclusion? Could it not be what was tried over 50 years ago; total annihilation of the disabled. Is conservatism good for the disabled? Diametrically opposed to conservatism is liberalism. Its proponents believe that political thought is always changing. They are willing to try new ideas which appear to make things better. However, many times these new ideas are only band aid approaches to problems that require long-term solutions. Liberals believe that change is necessary, but they do not feel that it is necessary to change the status quo very much. Therefore much of their proposed changes are short-term, not long-term solutions. Short-term solutions don't effect needed changes in the status quo. That means that change is meaningless. If change is no change, then it's business as usual. If change is no change then disability will continue to grow unchecked. Unchecked disability will mean that more people will become dependent upon government. This could lead to resentment and what happened over 50 years ago could happen again. Is liberalism the answer to the problem? In the middle, between conservatism and liberalism is the moderate who tries to reconcile the two. Reconciliation may sound meritorious but it can lead to no progress because all that is accomplished is arbitration. If there is no progress, then it is business as usual. If it is
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