Which, if any, of the following claims are true?
(1) Conservatives are able and willing to reasonably disagree with their opponents. Liberals cannot stand to have others disagree with them; liberals will do anything to compel assent.
(2) Conservatives don’t really want to find consensus on issues; they just like to argue, and they engage in argument as an end in itself. Liberals, on the other hand, sincerely care whether their arguments are convincing to their opponents.
(3) Liberals don’t really believe anything. Liberals care only about consensus, and are willing to compromise their deepest values in order to acheive it.
(4) Conservatives are stubborn and pig-headed; they can see only one side of any given issue. Conservatives are unwilling to concede anything, even when doing so would make their position stronger and closer to the truth.
There’s a theme running through all these claims. In all four claims, liberals are associated with agreement, consensus, and compromise; conservatives are associated with disagreement, controversy, and stubbornness. I’ve recently seen variations on all four of these claims in various comment threads around the internet. Is there some common source? For my part, I don’t see much truth in any of these four claims. I assume that there are a fair share of stubborn liberals, and that there are also a fair share of compromise-happy conservatives. Even as extremely rough generalizations, I’m not sure I see reason to think any of the above claims are true. But it’s odd that these themes are popping up somewhat frequently in discussion threads.
E.G. 
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