Social Question

ARE_you_kidding_me's avatar

Poll: Liberal or Conservative?

Asked by ARE_you_kidding_me (20021points) June 27th, 2015

You can’t be wishy washy on this, suppose you have to choose one way or the other. Which side do you fall on? Why do you choose this side?

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30 Answers

Judi's avatar

Liberal

ragingloli's avatar

Neither. I am a filthy communist.

DrasticDreamer's avatar

Liberal, because I’m about progress, equality and I oppose oppression. Outdated traditions that make no sense whatsoever need to go away.

whitenoise's avatar

I am Dutch. That makes me fall of the left side of your American political scale, I think.

Rather than Liberal or republican, I’d call myself ethical realist.

Definitely not republican. Being right wing in this time and age, knowing what we (could) know, should be considered a crime.

ragingloli's avatar

@whitenoise
So you are a socialist, like all europeans?

Pachy's avatar

Liberal, despite my avatar.

ucme's avatar

Neither, fuck labels!

cookieman's avatar

Liberal, because I’m about progress, equality and I oppose oppression. Outdated traditions that make no sense whatsoever need to go away.

I’m just gonna steal @DrasticDreamer‘s answer because it’s so perfect.

Brian1946's avatar

As an evolutionary socialist, I’m to the left of liberal.

However, if the TPP passes and all legal recourse to workers’ rights; consumer product safety and quality; and environmental protections are gone, then I’ll probably consider myself to be a revolutionary socialist.

SquirrelEStuff's avatar

“The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies… is a foolish idea. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can throw the rascals out at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies.”
― Carroll Quigley

ibstubro's avatar

The idea that there is a strict definition for the words ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ is ludicrous, and largely responsible for the current gridlock in Washington.
Break ranks.

SquirrelEStuff's avatar

“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum….” Noam Chomsky

SquirrelEStuff's avatar

An example of how the two-party system being used to limit debate and create a divide and conquer strategy:
This week while “liberals” and “conservatives” were cheering and arguing over gay marriage and health care decisions being upheld, TPP passed.
Divide, distract, and conquer.

kritiper's avatar

Left leaning Moderate.

Jaxk's avatar

Just to the right of Atilla the Hun.

josie's avatar

I think it must be sort of relative

My buddies call me a liberal because

1. I oppose the death penalty
2. I am an atheist
3. I do not think gay people should be barred from the same legal union, with all the perks and privileges, as what people used to call “traditional” marriage
4. If women want to get an abortion, I don’t think anybody should stop them.
5. I do not think the Second Amendment grants an unlimited right.
6. I think only individual American citizens should be allowed to make political contributions.
7. I do not think, at the moment, that ANY American pays enough tax.
8.I think animals raised for food should be treated reasonably humanely
9. I do not think that ANY third party payer should be allowed to know the nature of a transaction between a patient and physician, only that it occurred, and how much it cost.
10. I think it was prudent to remove the Confederate flag from the SC statehouse.
11. I think, in general, those “militarized” special police units are over used in routine enforcement.
12. From personal experience, I think the military has, since WWII, been too often overused as an instrument of foreign policy
13. And other stuff too.

So therefore, on this site, all of that makes me a staunch conservative.

Zaku's avatar

Revolutionary Green.

Liberal and even Progressive are labels which at this point are too far stuck in the far too corrupt system to result in enough change to prevent the damage being done by the amok megacorporations which are causing extinctions and threatening and degrading all life on Earth.

@josie – Wow you are my favorite kind of conservative! ;-)

stanleybmanly's avatar

@josie You may feel comfortable expressing that list here, but you can’t seriously suggest that a single one of them is consistent with what passes for current fashion in mainstream American coservatism.

stanleybmanly's avatar

@jaxk Plagiarism!

stanleybmanly's avatar

@SquirrelEStuff The problem is that both parties despite rancor over positions and ideology, have been coopted toward the same goal. Or rather the democrats (the alleged liberals) have been co-opted. The Republicans have enthusiastically volunteered, and don’t even bother to disguise their dedication to restoring the age of feudalism. In this, I admire their candor! Democrats at least are compelled to the pretense of “caring” and giving the illusion of stiff resistance to right wing machinations. As such, the actual choice facing the electorate is between brutal buffoonery and crumb throwing hypocrisy, because the patrons of both camps are assured the steady achievement of the prime directive. Regardless of any and all considerations—THE RICH GET RICHER.

tinyfaery's avatar

Why so dichotmized?

At heart I’m a socialist or a believer in some sort of communialism. In America, I’m far too left of liberal to describe myself as such.

Jaxk's avatar

@stanleybmanly – Very astute, I didn’t expect anyone to catch the connection. Score a 10 !!

DrasticDreamer's avatar

@tinyfaery I almost didn’t say liberal for that reason, too. I’m so far left on some things that I almost think “liberal” is too conservative.

upyurts's avatar

Human – woman loving kind and considerate. Honest and trusting, loyal and understanding!

Is that liberal- no it isn’t
is it conservative, no it isn’t

aren’t those just stupid labels people put on themselves to try an pretend they are superior or right about something, and is fundamentally correct, and just! Why do you need a stupid political label, isn’t that just a form of MIND-CONTROL…oops! sorry, if you weren’t aware your part of the MK Ultra programming, see it works, people are so easy to control, especially the dumb ones!!

keobooks's avatar

I’m not special snowflake enough to say I’m beyond labels. I’m pretty far left leaning. Even when I have views that are opposite of most liberals, I have those views for liberal reasons.

stanleybmanly's avatar

I’m liberal because I feel there is no choice. What used to pass for moderate or moderation is now labeled decidedly liberal and conservatism nowadays is just a euphemism for greed, selfishness and stupidity.

ARE_you_kidding_me's avatar

Everyone leans right or left for one reason and one reason only: their perception of right or left. This is largely if not entirely influenced by the people around you. The truth is we are almost all somewhere in the center. I have never met someone who fit the fox news model of “right leaning” or the npr model of “progressive” The political labels simply need to stop. The Republicans that get bashed on here so much simply do not exist in the general population. Same goes for the “extreme left wing” that talk radio rails against. My question is: Why do we continue to buy into it? Why do we let ourselves be so hateful to each other with these fake ideologies?

blarneyboy's avatar

Conservative Libertarian.

stanleybmanly's avatar

It’s interesting when these old threads pop up. It’s an opportunity to glimpse a slice of who’s missing.

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