Liberal or Conservative? Why? - General

Conservative. I like people to be free and don't particularly like government involvement. I don't happen to like establishment republicans because they don't get anything done and stand by while the Liberals crap on them. And I particularly like being able to play my music super loud because I live in the middle of nowhere and shoot a ton of guns in my backyard without having someone tell me to stop. Also I don't like intrusive government and anything resembling a socialist state.

Do I have to be one or the other? It's like, "Well you got two choices: Go Liberal (get all your economic freedom shat on) or Go Conservative (get all your personal freedom shat on)." Of course, if you side with no one you're committing the ultimate sin -- prepare to have those around you to call you a crank. My beliefs are as follows: The founding fathers said in the Declaration of Independence that the government's purpose should be to protect our liberties. It's too bad that colonial money during the war became so inflated that it was useless afterwards, and somehow this is a failure of the Articles of Confederation? Federalism soon followed, and after it resulted the Civil War, and since the federal government has never stopped growing in power. Now look at us, a whole alphabet soup of bureaucratic agencies in Washington and the clowns backing them are popular due to their shared economic illiteracy with the people and their appeals to patriotism and tradition. History is behind us, but there is hope to change the system. Government isn't going anywhere, it's an inevitability that has existed since the beginning of history. The same environments that shaped men into warlords now shape men into politicians, and in exchange for our standard of living created by the march of technology we pay more taxes than any village peasant would in medieval Britain. It may not happen in my lifetime, but soon people will realize that the monopoly of violence created by men in power must be halted, put on a leash, otherwise nuclear war and slavery are inevitable. Liberty is the only way these ideas will ever propagate, maybe I'm a libertarian or anarcho-capitalist or whatever my political compass says, it doesn't matter. We are all in some way victims to the system. While death may be more of a reality than the idealist progressivism of the liberals or the god of conservatism, my hope in the future is certain.

why does no one ever say economically conservative and fiscally liberal ive decided to be economically conservative and fiscally liberal as no one else wants to be

[QUOTE=POLOPOZOZO;43990885]why does no one ever say economically conservative and fiscally liberal ive decided to be [B]economically[/B] conservative and [B]fiscally[/B] liberal as no one else wants to be[/QUOTE] These two terms appear to mean the same thing. Explain the difference?

Most issues I'm liberal. Don't support banning guns, drugs, etc. but would like background checks and appropriate protections of such things to those who can control them. Can't remember who told me this, but the problem with a lack of background checks and the like is that it becomes easier for a mentally unstable individual to get guns rather than mental help.

[QUOTE=Duck M.;44011006]Most issues I'm liberal. Don't support banning guns, drugs, etc. but would like background checks and appropriate protections of such things to those who can control them. Can't remember who told me this, but the problem with a lack of background checks and the like is that it becomes easier for a mentally unstable individual to get guns rather than mental help.[/QUOTE] It's pretty common sense really, if you can't check the history of someone before selling them a tool designed to destroy, then pretty awful people are going to get their hands on them a lot easier. Restrictions on guns like that wouldn't harm a society in the slightest, so I can't understand why people would be so concerned about stricter background checking.

I tend to lean conservative on most aspects (though I believe there should be regulation on alcohol and stricter stances on vehicle licenses), but think that the liberal mindset in an ideal scenario would be as effective, even potentially moreso. However, I think that the two parties currently associated with conservatism and liberality, the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively, have become garbage due to corruption and thus I dislike both. I would just like to see a party that doesn't want to waste unnecessary amounts of money on everything and actually tries to address our debt issue, which will eventually come to bite either us or the world economy if we let it fester.

Neither. The Us vs Them mentality is currently ruining politics.

[QUOTE=hexpunK;43934696]This isn't fiscal conservatism then, it's a more progressive socialist approach to the idea of taxation (at least from what I remember). Fiscal conservatism would be allowing people to keep a vast majority of their income by removing, or lowering taxes to something small. Then forcing the government to avoid expenditures. Your views, by and large, sound more like a liberal view of things. Those who make the most, and can give the most, pay the most in for the betterment of society. Whilst the state uses this money to provide services to those who require them.[/QUOTE] Guess I'm a socialist then! Thanks for your clarification, now I know a bit more about myself.

I'd call myself a conservative. I believe people should be free, to a point. Businesses shouldn't be allowed to screw people, and I am against patents laws. I think that the rich should help those less well off, it is also an inequality to force it. I agree that people should be able to marry whoever (excluding children and animals), and that we should try to not fuck up the planet. [URL="http://politicaltest.net"]politicaltest.net[/URL] describes me as a Cosmopolitan Social Democrat, not sure I'd agree with that statement.

Two sides of the same coin? no thanks.

[QUOTE=Adam.GameDev;44019180]I'd call myself a conservative. I believe people should be free, to a point. Businesses shouldn't be allowed to screw people, and I am against patents laws. I think that the rich should help those less well off, it is also an inequality to force it. I agree that people should be able to marry whoever (excluding children and animals), and that we should try to not fuck up the planet. [URL="http://politicaltest.net"]politicaltest.net[/URL] describes me as a Cosmopolitan Social Democrat, not sure I'd agree with that statement.[/QUOTE] It classified me as a democratic national liberal. Based on the true definitions of those words and not the "buzzword" definitions employed by the media on both sides, I would say it's pretty accurate. [url]http://www.politicaltest.net/test/result/462064/[/url]

I would classify myself as a leftist and not a liberal. I think market capitalism is a crock of shit.

I'm not convinced that there are actually many definition "conservatives" left in america. If there were, marijuana (as well as most drugs) would be legal, abortion wouldn't be illegal in many states, and gay people would be allowed to get married. A great deal of self-labelled conservatives don't give a fuck about government involvement; so long as it supports their own views and revolves around their own life it's a-OK to interfere with other peoples lives. During frontier days where people had to earn, and work for everything they had, I may have supported conservative ideals, but the ideas conservative supports simply can't even begin to fit into the structure of modern society so conservatism as an ideology is totally defunct. People who claim to be conservatives are often exceedingly pro-government. anti-drug law, anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, all of these things are supported by modern conservative doctrine and yet go against all of the founding principles.

Liberal because I believe that LBGT rights are the most pressing issue in this country as well as abortion. They should both be legalized because this is a free country therefore people should do what they want. Also guns are bad and they are detrimental to a society's health and should be banned here in America.

[QUOTE=IrishBandit;44009328]These two terms appear to mean the same thing. Explain the difference?[/QUOTE] Oops socially not economically

Since this thread has not come to much complex debate and revolves more around posting your specific stance, it is being moved to fast threads.

Conservative but I hate that greedy scumbags fall under that category, so I suppose I'm a social liberal. I like to think that if I were a millionaire CEO that I would follow in Bill Gates footsteps in terms of donating and giving back. However, I'm not a fan of letting people live off of handouts, it sickens me that people make a career out of unemployment, ruining it for people who actually need it. Same with people who abuse disability pay. Ideally I'm a libertarian but people do need help from time to time and their neighbors/family aren't always able/up to the task of helping.

Somewhat socially liberal on some points, primarily an economic conservative. I split from the Repbulicans when the Tea Party started to get out of control.

Socialism all the way.

Personally, I believe that government should be responsible for the well-being of its citizens. However, my specific values tend to be more conservative. I support the death penalty, I'm pro-life (excluding cases of rape), believe in most traditional American values, and am very pro-gun. Gun laws are strict enough as is in my opinion. With that being said, I do believe in equal rights for gays and the legalization of marijuana (almost purely for economic reasons, however).

I don't pick a side. I think labelling onesself as either a conservative or a democrat is a monumentally stupid thing to do and that all people have tendencies to the right [i]and[/i] to the left. As for me? I'm probably 50/50 either way. Part of me leans pretty hard to the right. I'm all for gun ownership and there being a throaty V8 in the driveway, for example. Fuck electric cars. Fuck solar power. Fuck wind power Fuck defense spending cuts. But I'm also quite left on other things. Like healthcare. We need something like Canada's or Austrailia's. Gay Americans are still Americans and should be granted the same marriage rights straight Americans enjoy. And I'm all for legalization of various drugs as itt'l make both the drug and the streets safer. And, at least regarding the middle east, am for the return of our troops and a general pacifist stance on foreign policy. I may be veeeeery right-leaning on the size of the military but I'm very left leaning on actually using it. And then there's issues I simply do not give enough of a shit about to even form an opinion, such as abortion. I'm male so I will never have to make that choice. It's not my place to choose for the entire country any more than it is for one person.

I am generally liberal, but I find its best just to decide your opinion on each individual issue rather then doing what your party does. That being said, I believe that the government should take care of its people. welfare needs to be revamped, it needs to be stronger but have some limits on time, so people don't use it forever. I believe in prochoice but you need a parental permission from the parents of both "the father and mother to be" if they are under 18 (so highschool kids cant get an abortion behind their parents back) as for weed, I personally would never use it, but some of its chemicals can be sorted and put into pills for medical uses (and only medical use)