Respect is the foundation of all relationships. Whether between parent and child, lovers or just friends - without respect there's nothing to build a relationship with.
Depends on what love means to an individual. You can desire someone as long as their meeting your expectations. And if they fail to sustain those expectations what constitutes a depletion of love which would make it conditional? Or are you insinuating that the only love is unconditional love? a quote by alice in chains "and if we change, well i love you anyway" for me those simple lines prove unconditional love rules but conditional love is popular because people want connections to succeed and make life easier but once those connections start weakening they are perfectly willing to cut them off. Was that connection conditional because it was shut off? or maybe it's energy better spent on another connection. Ima say there is no such thing as conditional love if your willing to accept that love is larger then the feeling two people hold for eachother
Too bad truth is often measured by mass appeal, know what I am saying? But yes, I believe conditional love is not love but a higher form of lust...
Respect is common ground of mutuality, you give it, don't expect it back, but hope they do. More often than not, it's returned. It takes humility to give it, and it's better given than to receive. Stroking ego is about reception of it, and only about receiving it. Paying respect is opposite. Question is, what type of person would you respect? And it's not about stroking your ego or anyone else', it's about universality...
Take Obama for example, he sure receives alot of respect albeit not earned, and pays none of it back to his constituents.... Who seems like a nice guy, like George Washington, might be the most egotistical men of all...(which by the way, George Washington's greatest topic of the times was himself)