Will someone explain the viewpoints/differences of/between Democrats, Republicans, Conservatives, and Liberals

Question

In a way that a teenager would understand. I would really appreciate it. I would like to know stances on popular issues, etc.

Answer 1

Simple!

Democrats, Liberals -- All wrong
Republicans, Conservatives -- All right.

Answer 2

Ok. It is actaully a lot more simple than you think. Democrats and Republicans and types of political parties, as you know. But Liberal/Conservative are the type of what party you are. For example, There are a few liberal republicans, and some conservative democrats. Being Liberal or Conservative basically depends on how you deal with the viewpoints of which ever party you belong too.
Democrats (keep in mind, this is more of an explanation of liberal democrats) are a more high-power wanters, and would like the government to be more of a socialist (not totally socialist, unless they are a radical, liberal democrat) type of government. They would like the government to have more control of everything that happens, including health care, free enterprise, and basically the entire economy.
Republicans (this is more an explanation of conservative republicans) want a smaller, less controlled government. They would like to see the government so small that you could drown it in a bath tub. They want the government to have little or no control at all of the economy, health care, etc.
I hope this helps...And from what I know of you, youy are more of a moderate or liberal republican, whereas I am a very conservative (nearly radical) republican.

Answer 3

Republicans believe that the government should provide only basic services. They believe that everyone has the same opportunity and people are responsible for their own destiny; success or failure will dictate their standard of living. They do not believe the government should tax the wealthy to pay for welfare of the poor because that would be punishing people for being successful.

Democrats also believe that the government should be responsible for basic services, but should also have in place safeguards to provide for people who do not have the basics to survive (welfare, unemployment compensation, workman's comp, etc...) Democrats believe that not everyone has the same opportunities in life and success or failure can be predetermined much of the time. Most of these ideals were adopted as a result of the depression of the 1930's when many people lost their jobs and went homeless through no fault of their own.

In short, Republicans favor SMALLER government while Democrats favor BIGGER government.

Conservative and Liberal is a little trickier.

Generally conservatives are aligned with Republicans. They believe that change is disruptive and should be minimal, while liberals (also called progressives) believe change is needed to evolve and improve.

It get's a little fuzzy when talking about finance. A fiscal conservative believes you don't spend money that you don't have. A fiscal liberal believes that a situation needs to be paid for immediately even if you have to borrow from tomorrow to fix today.

Bill Clinton, a liberal Democrat, was fiscally conservative. He took office with a budget deficit and turned it into a budget surplus by tightening government spending. George Bush, a conservative Republican, has spent that surplus into the largest deficit ever.

Answer 4

Certainly. A Republican who is considered conservative in California or Massachusetts would be considered a liberal Republican in the south or upper Midwest. A Democrat in South Carolina or North Dakota who is considered liberal would be a conservative Democrat in the Northeast.

Answer 5

Republicans are for big business and for everyman for himself. Less government influence and less help porgrams for the elderly or poor. The Conservative part means they are for less government influence and for the States to have more say over their own state. They say that but they want more control over religion. No abortion, prayer in school, and no homosexuals, to call a evergreen tree a Christmas tree for some reason this is very important to them. They are for foreign wars.

Democrats are Called liberals because they say we don't care what you believe, if your gay or straight religious or not.
You can pray when you want, but religion will not be forced on you in school. If you get an abortion that is you and your husbands decision not the government.
We should have programs to help kids go to college and help them to have health care. Which scares Republicans who are afraid of more taxes. But it has been proven that college graduates earn more money and so pay more taxes which more than makes up the difference.
Most isssues are not that signifigant and Republicans want you to think that God is with them because they are against abortion. But Democrats are against a bunch of foreign wars.
Which actually takes more lives in the end.
Democrats like to stay out of foreign affairs where Republicans want to rule the world.
They want to play big brother to the whole world.

Answer 6

A conservative who is not a member of the religious right is a free-market conservative who opposes legislated change in society. A Republican can be one or the other. They usually favour smaller government.

A Democrat can be a left-wing liberal, a moderate, independent, centrist, libertarian, classical liberal or someone with a cause like the civil rights movement, anti-poverty programs and environmentalism. Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Michael Moore, Anderson Cooper, etc.

A leftist masquerading as a liberal is different from the above. They are the modern leftists who pretend to be liberals. There is a fine line between a left-wing liberal and a leftist but this example is perfectly personified by the differences between someone like Al Gore and someone like Ralph Nader.

A classical liberal is someone like myself, who opposes government intervention in the economy, excessive government interference in society, and supports free-market reform, private property, freedom of speech, individualism, etc. We do not support a class system, racism, discrimination but also do not cater to the extreme p.c. rhetoric of the left. The environment is important and so are women's rights, gay civil rights. I support affirmative action, multiculturalism, bilingual education for minorities and some type of immigration policy. I oppose mass immigration, unregulated political asylum for refugees. I also oppose nuclear proliferation and unnecessary war, like Bush's wars. I do support the right of a country to self-defense (Israel against Iran and Lebanon, Chechnya against Russia, Tibet against China, Azerbaijan against Armenia). Insurgency and threats are not considered self-defense (the actions of Muslims after the publication of cartoons in a Danish newspaper are disturbing the peace and a threat to Western European civilization). I support gun control.

Answer 7

I would search each party's website. There is always a "What We Stand For" type of link for you to get information from the source. A good link for liberal vs. conservative is http://www.balancedpolitics.org/ideology.htm.

But honestly, most people are not 100% one way or another. Luckily, your right as an American in to choos what you believe in. I, myself ascribe to positions that cannot be labeled one thing or another.

Answer 8

OK... This isn't a cop-out, I really think you'll get less bias and the the straightest answer this way:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservative

Something else you can do, maybe even first, is to find out where you stand on issues to determine your own political position:
-- 10 question quiz; good info on political positions:
http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html
-- More in-depth quiz; world view of political positions, including US Presidential candidates:
http://www.politicalcompass.org/

Personally, I think you're much better off if you find your own voice first! Once you do that, you'll be stronger in your own beliefs and better able to spot bias in news sources and in others. Just my opinion! :-)

Answer 9

I am a Democrat/Liberal. I am not a very liberal Democrat though. I kinda sit in the middle on a few things. I am for war when there's a reason for it. I am for people owning guns, just not guns that can kill 100 people in 10 mins. I am neutral on abortion. I am for raising minimum wage because although I have never made that, I know it is impossible to raise a family on it and many people who want to do right won't because they can't afford it. I am for people living everyone else. I want all terrorists out. I want all illegals out. I think gays are ok, I would never be one and for the ones born that way, great, but the ones that choose to be that way, shame on you.


Republicans are great because they are against abortion, for the right to own guns, for war to kill terrorists, for businesses making a lot of money, against welfare, and against raising te minimum wage.

Democrats are great because they are for women's rights to do what they want for their body, against people owning certain kind of guns like the ones that can kill a lot of people, for killing terrorists but against the War in Iraq since there were no terrorists there until we created their civil war, against taxing poor people, for providing aid to those that need it (but generally against people not deserving it to get it), and for raising minimum wage because no one can raise on family on minimum wage.

Answer 10

There are better places to find answers for your question than here. Most answers you receive here are biased because people can't separate facts from their personal beliefs.

Wiki each term separately and you will find your answers. If you have not already discovered wikipedia then now is the time.