Self Congratulation in Four Words

After looking at the results of the Twitter hashtags #LiberalismIn4Words and #ConservatismIn4Words, I realized that the same four words could be used for both:

• We Always Congratulate Ourselves

I will now make a serious attempt at summarizing the basic principles behind liberalism and conservatism (without intended snarkiness):

• Liberalism in four words: History Moves One Way
• Conservatism in four words: Human Nature Changes Not

The big problem with both is that “it ain't over till it's over.” We don't know which events are part of the true movement of history and which are temporary fads until long after. We also don't know which characteristics are part of human nature and which are accidental.