what are the primary ideological beliefs of liberals and conservatives in US government and why?

Question

I'm curious as to what conservatives and liberals believe and and what they stem their beliefs from and how they see the country in the future.

Answer 1

you forgot Democrats.
Liberals is the Republican "slang" for anyone that is not one of them.

Answer 2

the true deffinitions for liberal and conservative is different than what is out there now.
Classical conservatism does not readily avail itself to the ideology of objectives. It is a philosophy primarily concerned with means over ends. To a conservative, the goal of change is less important than the insistence that change be effected with a respect for the rule of law and traditions of society.
Classical liberalism is a political philosophy that supports individual rights as pre-existing the state, a government that exists to protect those moral rights, ensured by a constitution that protects individual autonomy from other individuals and governmental power, private property, and a laissez-faire economic policy.[3] Many elements of this ideology developed in the 17th and 18th centuries. As such, it is often seen as being the natural ideology of the industrial revolution and its subsequent capitalist system. The early liberal figures that libertarians now describe as their fellow "classical liberals" rejected many foundational assumptions which dominated most earlier theories of government, such as the Divine Right of Kings, hereditary status, and established religion, and focuses on individual freedom, reason, justice and tolerance.[4]. Such thinkers and their ideas helped to inspire the American Revolution and French Revolution.

Answer 3

This is just a generalization and I am not a political person but this is what I perceive.

Liberals-Progressive social values i.e. let people make up their own mind and follow their own path. Most would favor allowing gay marriage or at least not using the constitution to take away the right. Favor leaving women to decide what is right and wrong for themselvs on reproductive choice issues. Like separation of church and state, although most liberals do believe in God they feel we should keep our public institutions neutral and not promote any particular religion since we are a country of diverse beliefs and religions. In general keeping government out of private lives and letting people live as they wish.

Liberals favor social institutions that help the poor and provide benefits for people to improve themselves. This leads to more government spending so in this way some people lable them as big government.

Liberals are mixture of hawks and doves in reality but I think they come in more on the dove side. Tend to favor diplomacy and using methods like the UN more than conservatives.

Conservatives- Stress strong traditional social values. Marriage is only between man and woman. Sex should occur between married people, restrictions on reproductive choice, some even disfavor birth control. Many would like to see prayer and religion put forward more strongly in schools.

Believe in personal responsibility and a minimal obligation for government to provide safety nets and social programs for citizens. Wish to privatize things that have been made a public social service like social security and public schools.

Conservatives also tend to be more pro-military use and hawkish. Tend to distrust the UN.

Answer 4

Much of it comes down to this:

LIBERALS:
Big business: Wealthy, greedy pigs preying on the little guy
People: Assumed evil, except for the poor and elderly (the vulnerable)
Government: The only thing keeping people from preying on eachother
Religion: Nosy, pushy, and overbearing. Want to push their ideas on everyone. The law determines right and wrong, not a church.
Military: At times a necessary evil, but mostly just a drain on taxes better spent elsewhere. Most of them thugs. The world would be at peace if we just put down our guns and left them alone.


CONSERVATIVES:
Big Business: Smart and creative people who got where they are by skill and talent.
People: Generally kind and supportive of their fellows, except for addicts and whackos
Government: The less the better. Clumsy and inefficient. Bloated. Frequently wastes tax dollars
Religion: Teaches important values. There to help. The world would be a better place if everyone listened in church. Personal ethics are very important.
Military: Go USA! Our freedom and democracy needs defending. War is bad, but at times necessary.



You'll likely get a lot of polarized answers to this question, but my intent here is to provide a pretty fair answer. It's not intended to be either flattering or demeaning to either side. I myself happen to believe strongly one way, and not the other, so it's possible my beliefs have shown through. But I hope not.

I hope this helps.

Answer 5

Both ends of that particular spectrum focus on different aspects of the Constitution as most important. In the Preamble to the Constitution, there are five goals of the US government: "establish Justice, to ensure domestic Tranquility, to provide for the common Defense, to promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty"

Conservatives think the most important are "to ensure domestic Tranquility" (meaning to promote conformity with 'traditional' ways) and to "provide for the Common Defense. Most conservatives are Republicans, who (nowadays) want group rights (conformity with "traditional" values) and a large government to ensure domestic tranquility (by enforcing those conservative majority beliefs). Moderate republicans (originally called fiscal conservatives) want a small government, just large enough to provide for the common Defense.

Liberals think it's more important to "promote the general Welfare, and ensure the blessings of Liberty". Most liberals are Democrats, who want individual rights and a large government to promote the general welfare. Moderate democrats don't want a lot of wasteful spending, and want to achieve their goals without causing too many problems. Democrats do have a Conservative wing, which focuses on better ethical leadership and greater protection for both groups and individuals. The main difference is that conservative democrats still don't believe in enforcing their views on the minority, even if their own personal choices would be the same as what conservative republicans would make.

The concept of promoting Justice is important to both camps, but their idea of justice differs. Most camps of the liberal parties believe ensuring Justice requires favoring defendants, preferring the guilty to go free rather than sending the innocent to prison. Republicans and conservatives believe the promoting Justice requires being harsh to those accused, even if that occasionally inflicts sentences on the innocent.

Interestingly, the spectrum is not linear, and has more than one dimension. There are other political parties who focus on different combinations of those values. For example, Libertarians want a small government (no wasteful spending) and very little Welfare (few if any entitlements), but strong on Defense. Libertarians also want lots of protection for individual civil rights, to secure the blessings of Liberty. They feel that Tranquility will take care of itself, and doesn’t need government enforcement of morality. As such, they are moderate about most issues, except for being adamant that the majority should not impose its beliefs on the minority, as part of their way to promote Justice.

So, it basically comes down to which sets of Constitutional values each group thinks are most important.

Answer 6

Liberals: Pro-abortions / pro-gay marriage / higher taxes and spend that money on the environment, arts, edu. etc / believe in welfare

Conservatives: Pro-life / family values / lower taxes would help the economy / welfare is bad / spend more on defense

Answer 7

Liberals: Constitutional rights, small government, and freedom & Liberty

Cons (artists): Criminality, corporations, Shi#%ing on the little guy, lies, deception, and right-winged Christian funda(mental)ism.

Answer 8

republicians are for old family vaules and demacrats are not