I don't think it has much to do with the liberal-conservative distinction. I'm at the conservative end (Clojure, Haskell) and prefer a lot of liberal languages over Java.
The languages that you just named are in the case where Steve Yegge and I would disagree about categorizations. Steve looked at them, looked at the kinds of guarantees that they provide, and concluded "conservative". I look at them, and notice that people using those languages don't actually go through a lot of ceremony to get those benefits. Thus they can attract people who by my definition might be anywhere in the political spectrum.
My guess would be that you don't like having a lot of excess ceremony. If so, you'd be a liberal by my definition, and would prefer liberal languages over Java.
You're in a better position than I am to say whether that shoe fits, or whether you think that my attempted categorization criteria is entirely bunk. Either way, I'd appreciate feedback because I'm always trying to improve the ways that I understand the world.
I can see good reasons for every position on Steve Yegge's spectrum. But i have a way harder time seeing a good reason to be conservative on your spectrum. Which makes IMO Steve Yegge's spectrum better for value neutral discussions.
To me your response justifies the way I look at the world. The whole point of seeing things as "software politics" is to try to divide developers up into groups who each thinks that they are so obviously right that no justification is needed, and think that the others are so obviously wrong that you don't even know where you'd begin a discussion. And once you know what pressure point divides them, then you can actually try to start a productive discussion.
Speaking personally, I would die in an organization like that. I can look at it, see what's at stake, can accept that they are doing the right thing for their problem. But I am very glad that I can find things to do where the cost of smoking out the very last bug in my software is not as important as the profit from making the next thing that I'm going to make.
When human lives or expensive equipment are at stake then it makes sense to be software conservative by your definition.
But for these kinds of requirements Java is way to lenient.
