Why is it useful to characterize someone as liberal or conservative?

Question

This board is full of people 'libs' and 'cons' sniping at each other . What's gained by this? What purpose does it serve? Is one way of thinking more American than another?

Answer 1

I don't think it does any good whatsoever. It just exacerbates the polarization that has taken hold of our country in the last decade or so.

The truth is that any thinking person will have a variety of opinions, some conservative and some liberal and some in between. A person could be conservative about balancing the budget and liberal about gay marriage, for instance. So the labels are meaningless, in my view.

Answer 2

I think it gets in the way of doing anything. A huge percentage of the time of our politicians is taken up by making sure they are still in the race next time around. Its a shortcoming of democracy I guess which is little more than a high school popularity contest.

If humans werent greedy (I know I know!) some form of autocracy would work nicely, but thats not how it is.

Sadly we are all gifted with free will which makes us almost impossible to lead. Like Superintendent Chalmers said in the Simpsons "Its just a freakin popularity contest with you kids isnt it"

Neither is "american" as a non american I can say this as we have the same problems. If it were "american" i would hang myself as we surely dont want the world to mimic any more the state of your nation. Sure you gave us a lot (by taking a lot) but if the worlds path follows that of the US we are screwed. Fortunately that is not happening and Pax American only has a few more decades left in it at most. Hopefully that doesnt mean it ends in nuclear war.

Answer 3

Well, you have to start somewhere.

But I agree that labels often, in the long run, do more of a disservice.
The "Right vs Left" debate completely ignores the issues of
social conservitism etc, which has been a HUGE part of politics
since Ronald Reagan.

There are at least two fundamental axes to measure people these
days: Fiscal conservative to progressive and Moral conservative
to progressive.

There are certainly fiscal conservatives who are moral progressives
though there are very few moral conservatives who are not also
fiscal conservatives. There are some, though.

What other axes would you put in there?

Answer 4

For one, it is fun to see what other people have to say about current events, for two, you learn about other people's opinions (no matter how much you may disagree), for three, both are pretty American, and for the main question, people charecterize themselves and end up taking a stance on a certain subject. Would you rather have it so that everyone agrees with everyone else? That would be a crazy messed up place really.

Answer 5

Easier to make someone the target of others ridicule if you label them something people are trained to hate. Take me for example, you say someone is emo, it pisses me off. Can't help it, no reason a guy should wear girl pants.
Same principle, say someone is Liberal and those who view themselves as conservatives think stupid, pot smoking hippy, terrorist lover.
Say someone is conservative and the liberals think uneducated, blindly following there leaders, murdering innocent people because of the actions of a few, sheep.
It is just the way we are raised, and it is hard to overcome.

Answer 6

A person wanted to be casted as Liberal or Conservative because they want people about their political leanings by just belonging to a party.

Answer 7

Spot on!! You find this place in Yahoo land and your looking to connect with folks on the issues that seem to be plagueing our nation.

Only to find that there is a division? Perplexing to say the least.

Answer 8

Because usually people feel one way or the ugly way, the ugly way being Liberal! One believes in Freedom, the other wants the government to take care of them, the latter being Liberal. It is harder to fight for the right to have a free society, than to lay down and let somebody else do all the work, the latter being Liberals, except for the Liberal majority of actors in Hollywood. But then again, they're only RICH liberals to get the attention of the majority of Americans who are Liberal, so they can better their careers. Free publicity if you're a Liberal actor. I don't care if anybody, (Liberals) can't stand the truth. They wouldn't know how to tell it from a lie, since they do it all the time!

Answer 9

the labelling gives one an immediate impression of the views of the other person.

Answer 10

one is for increasing greed and a bright future for the rich and the other is for increasing acceptance and change... a brighter future for more people...