As I strive to emphasize in picking a person and not a party for President of the USA - I keep circling back to attempt to define our two party system and what I think each political group stands for (or used to stand for). I want to break down some misconceptions Liberals have towards Conservatives and vice versa. I realize that my opinions are just that, opinions - and this should not be taken for fact - everyone has a different idea of what their "party" stands for.
Prelude: If I had to be honest and tell you which of the two parties I related most closely to - I would have to say Republican. However, in the last two presidential elections I voted for Democrats. Moreover, I prefer to call myself a Libertarian as I feel this political party has some of the best ideas on protecting everyone from the government and upholding our constitution as the Founding Fathers meant it to be preserved.
Back to my opinion: Giant generalization alert* = Conservatives stand for less government, less taxes, less change. Liberals want more government involvement, more taxes levied on the public to aid in a nanny state, more environmental protection. In a nutshell, liberals believe the people cannot help themselves, so the government should be responsible to step in, levy taxes and help the less fortunate.
In various conversations with Friends, families and colleagues I have come to believe many people just don't get politics. They tend to want to identify themselves with a group, so they can feel connected. When someone tries to challenge their position, they tend to lock up and will not even entertain any new ideas. The ole "it's prolly better if we steer from politics" message is sent. I believe this is the major problem with everyone. We have to be open minded and willing to at least hear what others have to say. I encourage anyone that reads this to challenge anything and everything I have to say - I will listen and engage you in a civil conversation anytime. On the other hand, people could construe and probably will construe my message as an attempt to coerce them into believing what I have to say. In the same way, I may have been in fact coerced through propaganda or some other manner to believe what I currently do - and maybe I need a straightening out.
No matter what, just because I put out those generalizations about the two tier political system - doesn't mean it holds true or will ever hold entirely true. It sure hasn't in the most recent two terms of the current US President.As many would agree (I hope), GWB is not a great example of a conservative, at least not fiscally.
My whole point in writing this goes back to my original post. There is much confusion as to what it means to be associated or agree with one party or another. Many liberals think conservatives do not care about taking care of the homeless, or not providing health insurance to those who cannot afford it. In some cases, they may be correct. Of course there are greedy scumbag old men, whored up in their "McMansions" not willing to give out a dime to anyone other than their next of kin. However, and in my own opinion, the vast majority of conservatives do care and would be willing to donate to whatever organization that would be setup to help the needy, however, they feel forced( in the form of taxes) to turn their money over to the government to handle these matters. And as I said before, look at what the government has done with virtually every single welfare type of program and look at the fraud and pork barrel spending that occurs when you have the government handle these things. If it were a conservatives choice, they would not be taxed and rather donate to private organizations that would be in competition with one another to provide the services to the homeless. Private organization will be obliged to operate efficiently or the donors would find someone else who does. This is one thing the government does not have, competition. They have very little oversight, and they take your money and spend it as they see fit. Not as you or I would see fit. That is where the problem lies.
I feel like liberals do not trust the public to donate to these programs unless it is forced down there throat in the form of taxes. I am seriously up in debate about this, but I believe people will find ways to shelter their money and defraud the IRS and governemnt of their duties owed, while if they weren't being forced to help - they would be more willing.
I realize I didn't post much more about how liberals view conservatives, but I have to get back to work.. and so I will carry on this post tomorrow, where I will further elaborate on liberal point of view.
-End rant. More to come in elaboration in the many days following and leading up to election '08.
My quick interpretation of the two main US political parties, and a note on the Other party
