Practical examples of liberalism vs. conservatism

Anonymous asked this question on 4/28/2000:

I would like to know what is the definition of the terms, 'liberal', and 'conservative'?
I am very interested in an unbiased, contemporary treatment of the question, with perhaps some practical examples
Thanks in advance,
Rick

morrisonhimself gave this response on 5/6/2000:

Hoping this is genuinely "unbiased," I offer it from someone who is not a conservative or a liberal.
The old, traditional meanings of the terms are: Conservative = slow to change, cautious, even opposed to change; liberal = open-minded, progressive (whatever that might mean). The word has the same root as "liberty."
While today's conservatives share
* some* of the same meanings as the old definitions, or at least the very broad conservative movement does, a better definition is this: Conservatives believe in, very loosely, economic freedom -- although most conservatives will not allow the economic freedom of a person's spending his own money to buy "pornography" (whatever that might mean) or drugs, and many or most would forbid a person's using his own money for gambling or to hire a prostitute.
They do, though, generally oppose taxation, especially income taxes and property taxes, even if their opposition comes in the form of opposing "excessive" taxes (whatever that might mean).
Liberals believe in economic regulation but often claim to believe in personal freedoms; they generally support wide and deep taxation, but liberals have, for example, long opposed censorship -- until recent years when "pornography" (whatever that might mean) has become a "feminist" issue (whatever that might mean) instead of a religious or moral issue.
Liberals have ridden the "political correctness" bandwagon, not necessarily cynically, perhaps even believing in the "sensitivity" issues, but one ironic result has been various kinds of censorship.
Liberals generally do believe in an activist government, which means using the force of government (see the photos of the government thug taking Elian Gonzalez at the point of an automatic weapon -- in violation of court rulings and of just plain decency) to impose their moral viewpoint.
Conservatives, on the other hand, believe in using the force of government (this is written one day after the 30th anniversary of the shootings at Kent State University) to impose their moral viewpoint.
There is a better view of American political views, with a four-position spectrum instead of this two-position one.
If you are interested, please write.
Thank you.
Michael Morrison

JesseGordon gave this response on 5/12/2000:

I view the political world with the same two-dimensional framework as my colleague so I'd like to expand upon that a bit.

ON SOCIAL ISSUES:

My other colleague says: "A liberal holds that society's problems are best solved by collective action through centralized government." And "A conservative holds that society's problems are best solved through individual action without government intervention." Those are the views of a Republican, and are biased towards the Republican Party. These statements are only true when one defines oneself only based on economic issues, as points out is a common political viewpoint.

Liberals do NOT believe in centralized government on social issues such as drugs and crime, while conservative DO want more centralized government there (more prisons, promote the Drug War, more federal sentencing guidelines, etc.). The real distinction is in WHICH issues are considered appropriate for centralized government.

ON ECONOMIC ISSUES:

My other colleague says "Some would say that liberals are "liberal" with the amount of money they hand out to government programs such as food stamps, welfare, etc." That statement is biased in favor of conservatives too. Certainly, conservatives in the House and Senate have been much more "liberal" with the amount of money they hand out to defense programs, prison-building programs, SDI research, and so on.

Liberals DO, in general, "tax and spend" more than conservatives, but conservatives do their share. As with social issues, the real distinction between liberals and conservatives is in WHICH programs they choose to spend money on.

TWO-DIMENSIONAL FRAMEWORK

My first colleague defines "libertarians" as "social liberals and economic conservatives." That's pretty much true, although libertarians hate being called that. To expand that definition a bit, here's the way I look at the political world:

Consider your views on economic issues and social issues, and whether you support individual rights or government intervention in each of the two realms. Government intervention in the economic realm means that you distrust "big business" and think that government should regulate "unfettered capitalism." Government intervention in the social realm means that you think society's morals have deteriorated, and there should be more enforcement of morality as opposed to "unfettered individualism."

CONSERVATIVE means you believe in government intervention in the social or moral realm, but not in the economic realm.

LIBERAL means you believe in government intervention in the economic realm, but not in the social or moral realm.

LIBERTARIAN means you don't believe in government intervention in either the social realm nor the economic realm.

POPULIST means you believe in government intervention in both realms. Other names for this group are PROGESSIVE, AUTHORITARIAN, or STATIST.

Of course, no definitional framework is perfect, and numerous issues don't fit this two-dimensional scheme. For example, gun control in this framework should be approved by conservatives (since it's a social / moral issue) and liberals should advocate gun rights. But it works on most issues.

YOUR POLITICAL AFFILIATION

There's a 20-question quiz which figures out your political affiliation using this scheme, at http://www.govote.com/votematch/index2.asp . You answer your views on 20 issues, and it gives you a label like "libertarian-leaning liberal" or "moderate populist." The quiz also selects the presidential candidate who best fits your views, separating out the scores in the two dimensions defined above. (It doesn't include third-party candidates yet, but they'll be included within a couple of weeks). It's a fun quiz, unless you get labeled a "hard-core authoritarian"....

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