Just a bit of musing late last night:
Conservatism:
"Daddy, can I have a cookie?"
"No, you have not EARNED a cookie
but
if you will wash my car, you will have earned one and I will give you a cookie and you may do as you like with it."
Liberalism:
"Mommy, can I have a cookie?"
"Of course you may, sweetheart, we're family and I love you and what's mine is yours
but
you must share it with your little brother."
Pater Severus, Alma Mater: The strict father, the compassionate mother: Both teach a kind of discipline and self-restraint, with one you get self-reliant individuals, with the other, you get functioning, compassionate societies
but
get the balance wrong, and you get neither.