Liberal or Conservative?

Question

Just curious, who here considers themselves Liberal? Who considers themselves Conservative? And why? Explanations appreciated.

Answer 1

I'm all about taking care of people AND personal responsibility. Liberals and conservatives have gotten kinda twisted around, with each side snatching up issues that the others have discarded or avoided.



I'd like to think that people can always "pull themselves up by the bootstraps" but I know they can't. I know I've benefited tremendously from government programs, from grants for college to disability coverage since I can't fully support myself. I am working very hard on recovering and I'd like to be self-sufficient, but I just can't do it right now and I need some help. So I take it.



And that's mainly "liberal." So I support many government programs like providing affordable health care, helping disabled people, supporting the mentally ill, etc.



But "liberals" have taken some ideas from the 60s way past their logical conclusions. The whole "free love" idea? Thanks, boomers, but no thanks. Maybe pre-HIV. Not anymore. It's not empowering for men OR women to skank around and call it "casual"...it hurts everybody.



Love isn't free. It does require some work and commitment. And there's where I'm torn quite a bit--so many people are really f*cked up about "love" and sex and power.



I have to be pro-choice because women get raped, girls have sex before they're really physically able to have children (and they and their babies suffer for it, sometimes dying), and there's incest and child marriage and horrible people who go on to have horrible children. Look around the world, and you'll see women in dire circumstances who just can't go through with their pregnancies.



Maybe it's stodgy, or maybe it's incredibly progressive of me, but I think people should only have sex when they're capable of dealing with the consequences. I don't know that marriage is required, but a certain level of maturity certainly is. I'm tired of seeing people have sex "to make people love me," for "security," for "comfort." People are wildly insecure and sex is used in so many wrong ways for so many wrong reasons. Sometimes, people use sexual violence, which is a horrible violation of not only the victims, but of the whole idea of sex.



Love first, then sex. But so many people don't know what love is. So they have sex to pass the time, to gain status, to get/keep a "lover"...it's all so disappointing.



So in some ways, I'm "conservative" about sex...AND liberal.



I have morals. I'm complicated. I don't fit completely in one category or the other.



But I do think that freedom is the greatest thing that we have, and the spirit of the Constitution doesn't allow exploitation for financial gain or the government prying into people's sexual or medical business.



You have the government spying on you, telling you who you can and can't marry, telling you what religion to be, telling you whether you can have a medical procedure, you take away freedom. I go all the way back to the Constitution, to the founders of this country for my freedoms.



I care about the environment, I care about people getting a fair deal, I care about freedom, and I care about privacy. I want people to develop into strong, caring, morally upstanding citizens, but I know that many times, they won't or can't.



So most of the time, I'm "liberal." Most of the time, I vote Democrat. I don't think that many conservatives really want what they say they want.



They want religious freedom as long as it's their religion. They want "moral purity" but don't make accommodations for the fact that we live in a vastly immoral world and victims need rights. They want individuals to help themselves, while big businesses (especially agribusiness, which I hate, and big energy companies/fuel providers) get government handouts and sweetheart deals. And what is the deal with the war? Aren't we cutting off our own nose to spite our face? It's depressing how many good people have died (on all sides) in the pursuit of "freedom." People are too broke to make it in this country, so they join the military and reserve forces, and instead of the government paying them to improve their homeland, they send them abroad to kill and be killed.



Conservatives expect you to make your own money or they leave you out in the cold. People can't always support themselves, and I just can't accept a government that doesn't take care of its most vulnerable citizens.



Most people do fine without a lot of government intervention. But the government needs to help the needy and smack down the greedy. So what does that make me? Liberal? Fine. Whatever.



I am a really good person, and when I vote with my conscience, I take my morals to the booth with me. I'm smart, I'm informed, and I'm a fine upstanding citizen.



That's what I really am.

Answer 2

The primary difference between liberals and conservatives is their locus of control. If you ask the question why are rich people rich, a conservative would say that for the most part they worked hard and made wise decisions with their time, money and resources. They earned what they have and they deserve it. They may be perfectly willing to share it as they choose, but no one has a right to take it from them not even the government. A conservative would say that the way to help the poor is to provide opportunities for them to help themselves. Those who are willing to work, save and spend wisely won't be poor for long.



A liberal would say the rich are rich because they were born into the right family, went to the right schools, met the right people and had the right opportunities. For the most part they would attribute success to luck, chance and circumstance (or to cheating others somehow). They would say the rich didn't really earn what they have and don't deserve it. Someone needs to step in and level the playing field and that someone is the government. Liberals believe in big spending on welfare, food stamps, and other entitlement programs even for illegal immigrants.



Another example of locus of control would be gay rights. Conservatives tend to say that just because a person was born with a natural predisposition toward homosexuality doesn't mean they have to act on it. It's still a choice. Liberals tend to say that's just the way they were born. They have no choice in the matter.



Another example of locus of control is gun rights. When a shooting takes place conservatives blame the shooter. Liberals blame the gun. Conservatives trust individuals to own guns and to use them properly even though some individuals occasionally don't. Liberals want to shift the control off guns from the individual to the government.

Answer 3

The Liberal ideology is a theory which holds forth beliefs that have no basis in reality.

They are Advocates of a policy that empowers a strong government to enslave its people with a high tax burden incident to the support of extravagant and unnecessary social programs destructive to both the work ethic among the lower class, and the incentive to innovate and succeed among the working class.

The problems we face today are because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living.

A democracy will continue to exist up until

the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous

gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority

always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from

the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally

collapse over loose fiscal policy

Answer 4

I consider myself in between.



When I was younger, I was a Liberal. Of course, most young people are since we are very idealistic and want to see things in government and the world more "fair".



Granted, I still desire to to see things more fair, but I have now lived long enough to realize that many things in life aren't fair. And, I have also lived long enough to see that society's attempts to make government and life more fair have simply made things worse.



We have become so politically correct that to simply look at someone the wrong way could cause a lawsuit.



We have become so fair, our laws favor the criminals over the victims.



We have become so tolerant, there is no right or wrong, and belief in God is now abhorrent.



We have become so dependent on Government, we can't take care of ourselves and are moving more and more to a socialistic society.



These changes in society, as a result of extreme Liberal voices and viewpoints, have made me much more Conservative over the years.



I don't believe the rich should share the wealth. I believe in Capitalism.

And I don't like to see our tax dollars wasted on special interests.



I don't like the war in Iraq, but I support our troops and appreciate their efforts and bravery.



So, with all that said, I guess you could say that I am in between with strong leanings toward the right.

Answer 5

Conservative.

Answer 6

I am a liberal. I call myself a liberal because I believe in equality. And I believe that a woman has a right to choose what she can do to her body..NOT the government. I believe that all people should have the right to get married, regardless of their sexual preference. I believe if you are a hard working citizen and need a little help from the government, you can take advantage of welfare (I do think however, that too many people abuse it, which gives welfare a bad name.) I believe in social security and medicare. We are The most prosperous nation and a percentage of citizens cannot afford health care. For the most part, I am a leftist, but one of the only things I do not have a "liberal" view on is affirmative action. I am highly against it. Thanks for listening! :)

Answer 7

Conservative: As I have gotten older I have gotten more conservative, for example I used to believe that abortion was a matter of choice, but after much study on the matter I have come to the inescapable conclusion that life begins at conception. Abortion is murder! Many would make exception for pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, but I know a youth minister who led hundreds if not thousands to Christ who is alive because his mother chose to not abort him after being raped. Being Conservative fits with my core beliefs