Its time for change! Lets get rid of Conservative v. Liberal

Some people say "Well being a Liberal..." or "as a strong conservative...". Sometimes we even hear "I tend to be more moderate in..." or derisively "I am more progressive in my stance on..." and it's "right wing" counterpart "people should have more freedom in..."

All these terms are B.S. and no, for my accounting friends, I do not mean Balance Sheet.



Here is why.

What is a Liberal/Progressive? Today, in the United States, it generally means someone that believes that government should have more power and influence over economic issues while having less power and influence over social issues. For example an L/P would say that government should have power to tax basically everything but would say that government should not decide who can and can't get married.

What do Conservative/Tea Partiers believe? Broad scope, they believe the opposite. Government should have little influence or power over economic issues but does have a place exerting power and influence over social issues. They would say that taxing powers of government should be limited but should be able to decide who can and can't get married.

My issue is that in reality it is dishonest to call oneself a conservative or a liberal. Liberal (classically meaning liberal in the freedoms held by the people) and conservative (classically meaning conserving or limiting freedoms of the people) have a perception of meaning the opposite. A liberal is seen as giving more power to government while a conservative is perceived to hold more power with the people. But that is not true.

A "conservative" is liberal on economic issues and conservative on social issues.
A "liberal" is conservative on economic issues and liberal on social issues.

Why don't we identify our selves like that? Lets try instead of conservative saying "I am liberal on economic issues and conservative on social issues." A liberal would in turn say "conservative on economic issues and liberal on social issues."

Something that I have never understood is the contradictions inherent with many people's political stances. You don't want the government to regulate business and play a role in promoting business and yet you want the same government to decide who can and can't live on your side of a geographic border. You want the government to decide who can own a firearm yet can't understand how a government has a place in marriage.

That is another topic for another day.