SEE NO EVIL, FEAR NO EVIL, ABET EVIL:

Two Concepts of Anti-Terrorism: The party of fear vs. the party of goodwill. (William Saletan, September 24, 2002, Slate)

The party of goodwill, led by Gore, believes that the behavior of foreign peoples and governments toward the United States is driven by whether they like us. If we're nice to them, they'll be nice to us. If we're mean to them, they'll be mean to us.[...]

The party of fear, led by Bush, takes a different view. It believes that the behavior of foreign peoples and governments toward the United States is driven, as President Reagan put it, not by whether they like us, but by whether they respect us. [...]

Which party is right? Both are probably oversimplifications. For now, the important thing is to be aware of the dispute. They're completely different theories of psychology. Neither has been clearly articulated, challenged, or defended.

By defining the diferrences so narrowly and incorrectly, Mr. Saletan is able to correctly assert that these specific points have not been clearly articulated. In fact, the difference between conservatism and liberalism is far more elemental, it's that the Right believes in evil while the Left does not, and this is has been discussed frequently and fully--see for instance The Death of Satan : How Americans Have Lost the Sense of Evil (Andrew Delbanco). Posted by Orrin Judd at September 25, 2002 7:47 PM