Gee, scary title. 
I’ll try to make this post shorter by making it just the first of a series of posts about this theme.
“Liberals” and “conservatives” are two terms used in some of the most intense discussions and flamewars on the Internet. This has happened for decades. But what do they mean, really? I don’t believe that they mean the same to everyone - independently of what one’s own position is.
Let’s start by trying to come to some definitions, then.
Here in Portugal, those terms aren’t commonly used - we usually say “left-wing” and “right-wing”, which are similar to those other two, but not exactly the same. Of course, many people have different definitions here, as well, but, on average, we seem to believe that “left-wing” means more concerned with “social equality” and “compassion for the poor”, while being mostly permissive. “Right-wing”, on the other hand, tends to be “pro-big business”, and doesn’t care much about that “equality” stuff, but is usually more authoritarian.
To complicate matters further, the leading two parties here, PS and PSD, while traditionally “left-wing” and “right-wing”, in that order, have, in recent years, come so close that they are almost indistinguishable from each other. So, what makes one “left-wing” and the other “right-wing”, if they seem to believe in exactly the same, and establish the same policies, is beyond me. I guess those labels are there mostly from tradition, as they were different in the late 80s and early 90s.
The USA, on the other hand, seems to be different, as the two terms, “liberal” and “conservative”, really apply to two different philosophies, though they are so distorted as to not have anything to do with what the actual words mean. “Liberal”, there, is almost a dirty word - it means a Socialist, someone who doesn’t believe in hard work, but wants to take from the rich to give to the poor, someone who is almost pro-Communist, is part of some great gay / atheist lobby that controls Hollywood and the media, is pseudo-intellectualish, is a flower power anti-war tree-hugging hippie, is mostly unpatriotic, and so on.
A “conservative”, on the other hand, believes in hard work (or, at least, boasts so), is a God-fearing born-again Christian, believes that the poor are poor only because they are too lazy to work, that America must always be the world’s top power, even if it requries the use of intimidation and force. He also doesn’t believe in such myths as “the greenhouse effect” or “global warming”, and still has some racist and sexist beliefs (though these are usually hidden, at least in part, as they are out of fashion these days). To him, most science and scientific research is “ungodly” and a waste of time, if not actually dangerous, unless you’re talking about weapons research, which is always a good idea - after all, America must stay on top, and those Soviets Arabs are going to attack any day now. And, if the president is a conservative and you criticize him, you’re an unpatriotic traitor.
Both sides believe in legislating morality, unfortunately, though conservatives care mostly about banning “ungodly” things like homosexuality, gay marriage and so on, while the liberals worry about “thinking of the children” and, thus, censoring the media.
Now, you’re going to say that “no way, liberals/conservatives aren’t really like that, they are…”. And I welcome those comments - though what I wrote above is certainly what a lot of Americans believe… at least about the other side.
To be continued…
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Great Job! You nailed it. Those descriptions are near perfect fits for the mindsets of American Politcal Propaganda today. Fortunately I think most Americans are coming to a point where they’re seeing through the BS and realizing that the term “left-wing” “right-wing” “conservative” “liberal” are all just codewords for Politicians that equal “Con-Artists”.
Regardless of our belief systems, Americans need to stand together, united as a front to battle our current Leaders, it shouldn’t be Republican vs Democrat, it should be American People vs American Government. Just because you’re a “right-winger” doesn’t mean W. is standing for YOUR beliefs, you can bet on that!
I am glad to see your note of caution that beliefs and perception of political leanings depend on perspective…Michael Apple in 1998 identified 4 different strands within the conservative movement in the USA, which were the professional middle class, the authoritarian populists (read: Christian Right), the neo-conservatives (WASPs with a vision of a strong state), and most controversially, the neo-liberals (although I think he was really talking about libertarians with a commitment to free trade and a weak state). No doubt his observations were coloured by his own viewpoint on issues relating to educational policy. I think that someone writing from the other side of the fence (so to speak) could identify a similar spectrum of beliefs within the “liberal movement” if there genuinely is such a thing.
Of course I don’t live in the USA, so I can’t comment really on American politics, however it is interesting to note that in many parts of New Zealand, it used to be the case that you could get a well-trained monkey elected as long as you put the right coloured ribbon on it. This is no longer the case, and I suspect from what I see in forums and opinions I hear day-to-day that we are beginning to shake free from the prison of voting the way our parents did…
One can only hope.
Such dichotomies are meaningless and only mire us further in a ‘two party’ system which is really one party - the rich having a party at everyone else’s expense. If possible, vote the THIRD option - the Greens, for instance, in some juristictions. Or, like Spain in the 1930s you could elect an ANARCHIST GOVERNMENT - which worked fine until the corporations got pissed off and trashed the joint.
The eagle needs two wings to fly - and humans need a CONSCIENCE, which has nothing to do with left/right brain patterning but everything to do with balance - and cosciousness of what’s happening beyond the labels.