whats the difference between conservatives and liberals? or in other words ppl to the right and left? thanx?

Question

what im asking is - ppl always use the term someone to the right or someone to the left and ppl always classify themselves as conservatives and liberals. so basically im just wondering what the exact implications the words have and what their definitions are? thanx

Answer 1

Well theres a number of different kinds of liberals and conservatives. But I'll give the American based definition.
Conservatives are generally in favor of less government in economics, but more government in the social sector. For example many conservatives oppose restrictions on business but are in favor of restrictions on free speech if the speech is seen as obscene.
Liberals on the other hand are more for big government in economic issues, but government out of social issues. Take for example taxes, liberals generally want higher taxes to pay for government sponsored social programs but do not want the government making bans on things like gay marriage.
Liberals tend to be more for the changes in civil rights in a society. When you think of liberals, as far as social stances go, think of social change towards equality (although theres ways to say that they don't seek as well.)
Conservatives tend to want things the way they are socially or back to the olden days. Think of the family values kind of stances used against gay marriage.
Remember that liberalism and conservatism is a political set of beliefs and that most politicians have a general mix.
Heres a brief run through of each ideaology on a few issues.
Liberal Ideaology
Abortion- Less Abortion Restrictions because it is a woman's right to choose.
Gay Marriage- Allow gay marriage because the state shoudln't discriminate on the basis of sex and that religion shouldn't set who is and isn't married.
School Prayer- It should not be allowed because it violates the Seperation of Church and State.
Immigration- We should lax immigration controls because not only do they help our economy, they help enrich our culture, America is a land of freedom.
Foreign Policy- We should embark on a multi-lateral strategy so that we can preserve allies. Work with the international community (the U.N. , NATO, etc.)
They also support the expansion or maintenance of large government based programs like Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security etc.
More taxation on the wealthy to help the poor
Usually they are for rehabilitation of criminals versus harder punishment.
Conservative Beliefs
Less taxation
Less government spending.
Less big government programs
Harsher restrictions on immigration.
No gay marriage because it goes against tradition.
Against affirmative action.
Foreign policy- Generally for more unilateral action. the U.S. defines the mission and we get our allies where we can (less work with the international community).

Theres other beliefs involved but this is a general summary. Check other sources to widen the general outline provided here.

Answer 2

Conservatives believe that government should be as small as possible
and that the government should pretty much keep out of people's lives.
The extreme opinion would have the government basically just in
charge of the armed forces and everything else should be private.

Generally, they resent taxes as they see it as part of the government
growing beyond what they want.

Liberals think that the government can fix lots of the world's woes
by regulating, funding and otherwise being involved with. This takes
money, and liberals are generally willing to spend it on the idea that
if you spend a little money with the government, it can take care of
more things through economy of scale. It is cheaper to come up with
a single solution than to have lots of different private solutions.

Since the advent of Reagan, the conservative movement has acquired
"moral conservativism" - the idea that the government should prevent
immoral behavior through laws, etc.

Liberals find it bizarre that Conservatives want to remove all kinds of
regulations (including environmental) but have lots of laws governing
moral behaviour.

Many strict fiscal conservatives want to split off from the moral conservatives
because they feel that their message is getting mixed.

If you take either model to the extreme, you get some pretty stupid
government. The idea that the government is huge and controls every
aspect of everyone's life is fundamental to socialism and communism, so
the extreme left is communism.

The other direction gives you anarchy - basically no government.
Alternately, the far right degenerates into anarchy with a dictator
to only keeping the government coherent (facism).

Answer 3

The official definition changes continuously-- Conservatives used to be the people who wanted to stay under Britain rather than rebel and form a new country (the US)...As things change more and more, conservatives are people who draw their line in the sand and say society should not change further than this. Modern conservatives are more patriotic or nationalistic than their forebears, whereas George Washington and company were liberals, but modern liberals see things more in terms of being "citizens of the world". Hence cons these days are against things like divorce (less and less these days as more of them get divorced) or abortion which are newer legal social phenomena. Also, you see the "liberal attitude" leading more people being more open about homosexuality and conservatives want to go back to the good old days when this was unacceptable -- "conserving" a value system of when this was not the case.
Liberals are people who are in favor of change -- the US constituion is based on Liberty which comes from the same root as Liberal and means essentially that anyone should be able to do anything so long as they don't hurt anyone else.
Liberals therefore push society where they think the end of Liberty is better fulfilled while Conservatives try to hold society back on what they consider more wholesome old-time values.

Answer 4

All political biases aside, let's see what Webster's collegiate dictionary (10th edition) says:

Conservativism: "a disposition in politics to preserve what is establish... a political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, stressing established institutions, and preferring gradual development to abrupt change." So, a "conservative" is a person who more or less adheres to this form of ideology.

Liberalism: "a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties." So, a "liberal" is a person who adhere's to this form of ideology. (Note: the term "progress" above can mean "change.")

As you can see from the non-politicized form of the above definitions, "liberals" and "conservatives" differ on the way they value CHANGE in our society. However, what is making the understanding of the difference between liberals and conservatives so difficult in today's form of American politics is a) democrats are assumed to all be "liberals," which is VERY mistaken because for the most part today's democrats and conservatives in Washington are two sides of the same coin, and b) uneducated people who don't know much about politics assume that a liberal (often the slang term "lib" used as abusive) automatically is someone who is "leftist" and anti-American when that is VERY far from the truth as you can see from the definitions above.

Good question. Tell your friends the real difference between liberals and conservatives before the term "liberal" becomes a dirty word (we may be too late).

Answer 5

No real difference, they are both extremists determined that you should think there way and either will support a dictator so long as they are part of the dictatorship. The Nazis were extreme left, the Fascists were extreme right.Germany and Italy got along fine and were allies in the second world war. The Communists were extreme left and the Nazis were extreme left and Germany and Russia fought to the death in the second world war

Answer 6

So genuine. upload to that: Conservatives count number on own responsibility and taking responsibility for the leads to their own moves is standard to freedom. Liberals trust they're free to do although they prefer and all of society might want to undergo the load of cleansing up their messes. Your representation proves once and continuously that those on the "severe correct" aren't to any extent further truly Conservatives, because they violate your description of what a Conservative is. hence, the theory of party association might want to be divorced from the Liberal vs. Conservative argument. skill corrupts and all of us do not forget that both significant political activities have too a lot skill. Therefor it follows that both activities are corrupt. What u . s . needs is a real Conservative party.

Answer 7

In terms of basic philosophy, the right-wing (conservatives) believe in small government and lower taxes - e.g. the government that governs best governs least. This means that people have to take more responsibility for themselves financially (e.g. minimize welfare and social secuirty and other government handouts). Conservatives believe that big business will promote better lives for everyone, so they will give incentives (e.g. tax breaks, loosen environmental restrictions) to big corporations in order to make it easier for them to start/grow businesses. This is called "trickle down economics" because the hope is that the investments by the rich will lead to benefits (jobs, cheaper products) for the rest of the country.

Also, conservatives do not believe in freedom or liberty when it disagrees with their philosophy (e.g. stem cell research, soft drugs like marijuana, abortion, gay marriage, freedom of reporters to print bad things about the government). Although the USA was founded on the basis that a patriot has the obligation to criticize the government (because if our founding father didn't do that, we'd stil be british!) the right believes that if you don't like America you should live somewhere else. Because of these issues, the right wing tends to be dominated by rich people, religious lunatics or morons. The only issue where the conservatives are not stingy is when it comes to war - they believe in a strong military, even if it means raising taxes and forming a bigger government in order to get it. Also, the right is the master of language - they can convince people that "lowering taxes" means that they will pay lower taxes, although in reality it means that only the top 1% of rich families will pay lower taxes. Their use of language in order to control a debate (especially when they are blatantly wrong about an issue) is brilliant!

The left wing/liberals believe that the government's main job is to butt out of citizens liberty, but give them help when they need it. Liberals tend to be soft when it comes to war, and only fight when the US is attacked (for example, most liberals consider the war on afganistan to be just because the taliban allowed 9/11 to happen, but the war on iraq is unjust because iraq never attacked the US). The liberal philosophy is to take money spent on military and put it towards public education instead. Also, the liberals are big on things like welfare, social security, etc - giving the poor some $$$$. Liberals talk pretty about ending racisim and religious intolerance. When it comes to crime, liberals tend to believe in rehabilitation before long prison sentences, and no death penalty. Conservatives are all in favor of the death penalty, even though innocent people have been executed.

Another main philosophy of the liberals is progressive taxation - that means that the more money you make, the more taxes you pay. I personally liked this philosophy until I started to get some money and had to give more of it to the freakin government. Liberals are also in favor of freedom on so-called cultural issues, but that freedom doesn't extend to the realm of big business. For example, when corporations started outsourcing jobs overseas, conservatives would say "get better at your job or else your job will just go overseas" and liberals would say "let's put a tax or a quota on overseas labor so that american jobs stay here". In other words, liberals would rather regulate big business (e.g. to make sure they are environmentally sound, competing fairly with each other, etc).

The left, because they tend to either be thinkers or people who pretend to be thinkers, generally appears to be weaker then the right - though sometimes "flip flopping" can be a good thing, changing your mind about something that should work but isn't can be a great thing in government. The left is also broadly defined (for example, there are some liberals who are actually in favor of the iraq war) so they do not form coalitions the way the right does, and therefore do not speak as a whole. Thus the liberals are weak in government, and don't have this mastery over how to talk to ordinary citizens about how their policies are good for them. The left tends to be populated by intellectuals, hippies and college students.

Answer 8

Liberals believe in social justice. They believe that government serves the people of the United States and that government's job is to serve the people. Liberals also believe that liberalism is social justice. Liberals believe in strong local governments and in participatory democracy. They believe that government which governs least, governs best. They believe that, through social justice, the means to end poverty and injustice rest with individuals who support the state.

Conservatives believe that it is people's job to serve the state. They believe that social justice is intrinsic only to the middle class and they believe that supporting and fostering free enterprise is the means by which to engage a nation through the middle class.

Whether or not Liberals do what they are supposed to do anymore and whether Conservatives do what they are supposed to do anymore is anyone's argument. But the arguments keep flying.

Answer 9

In general-

Liberals (left) tend to favor larger government involvement in daily and business affairs. They tend to favor more centralized control as oppose to local control. Their ideology is very socialistic. They tend to be against capitol punishment but are pro-welfare, abortion, euthenasia. American liberals also tend to want to participate heavily in international organizations such as the UN and have championed environmental cause.

Conservatives (right) tend to favor smaller federal government and more local control. They favor a 'free-market' and oppose most government policies that would regulate business dealings. Their reluctance towards big government also makes them want to limit dealings with the UN. Conservatives tend to oppose abortion and euthenasia and push to reform the welfare system. They tend to favor capitol punishment and challenge 'pop' science.

In short: liberals tend to favor socialism and conservatives tend to favor capitolism. Liberals accuse conservatives of catering to the rich and conservatives accuse liberals of giving the poor handouts and thus making the poverty problem worse.

Both groups agree that education is extremely important in our society...but their views on how it should be handled are completely different.

Ok-so these are just general trends in political views of the 'left' and the 'right'. I've tried to be objective as possible...but since I am clearly on one side of the fence...that can make it very difficult. And of course, some people on the 'left' may be against abortion and some people on the 'right' may be against capitol punishment...that's just an example.

There's a saying amongst conservatives...'if you are under 25 and not liberal, you don't have a heart and if you are over 25 and still liberal, then you don't have a brain,' haha...so that is kind of harsh...but what the saying is trying to convey is that the socialist ideals of liberals are unrealistic. It can't work and in trying to make it work-individual liberties are trampled on (communitst Russia or China anyone?). A free market is the only way for the economy to thrive and with a thriving economy-a society is better able to combat poverty for those who are willing to work to overcome it.

Hope that gives you a good overview.

Answer 10

Fiscal Conservatives (i.e., Conservative in money matters) want a smaller government that is cheaper to run, with lower taxes; and a strong military for defense (not only defense of the U.S., but for our allies, as well).

Liberals want a large, well-funded government. With the higher taxes they would collect, they feel the Government should act as a clearinghouse for aid. They want a smaller, more parochial military.