Defining Conservativism and Liberalism - Help?

[MrBishop]

I'll jump in here with these thoughts...

1. What do you, yourself, consider Conservative, or Liberal?

2. How would you describe yourself, according to your own yardstick (meterstick to you metric folks)?

Once you answer those questions, you'll be able to place yourself in whichever camp you desire.

I am often considered Liberal, except my liberals who call me moderates, and moderates who call me Conservative...it's really a matter of where you place yourself rather than where others place you.

I, for instance, like that the GVT has systems in place that can help people get back on their feet should they stumble too hard. I've worked with meals-on-wheels and food-banks before..I know how needed those kinds of services are. I also realize that there are thousands, if not millions, of people who take advantage of these systems who really shouldn't have to do so. There are far too many loopholes and too few watchmen for the system to help those who actually need it. I truly feel that unemployment insurance and welfare recepients should be revisited on occasion to see if they still need it, or if it's being used as a coasting mechanism instead of a coping mechanism.

So..am I Liberal or Conservative? If I bring up another example, your opinion might change. My opnions of the death penalty are conservative, those on abortion are moderate. On homosexuality, they're liberal...

Pidgeon-holing is bad.

 

[Winky]

I don't know about anyone else, but my sense the last few years is that conservatives don't want to change anything that agrees with their world view while the liberals of today want to change everything that disagrees with their world view. Opposite sides of the same coin. They use similar methods and they both want you to believe that their way is the only possible way. I don't have much patience with either group.

Breathe deep in the gathering gloom
Watch lights fade from every room
Bedsitter people look back and lament
Another day's useless energy's spent
Impassioned lovers wrestle as one
Lonely man cries for love and has none
New mother picks up and suckles her son
Senior citizens wish they were young
Cold-hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colors from our sight
Red is grey and yellow white
And we decide which is right
And which is an illusion?