A conservative believes in prayer in the public schools. Not Muslim prayer or Buddhist prayer. Good old American protestant prayer. A liberal believes that government and religion should be kept strictly separate and that Freedom of Religion includes freedom from religion.
A conservative believes that he got where he/she is by good old fashioned hard work completely on his own. A liberal understands that his good fortune has depended on the help and support of others, including, at times, the government. See, for example, land-grant colleges and universities.
A conservative believes that he should be able to keep all that he has earned. A liberal understands that all citizens have to contribute to our common expenses, such as police, fire departments, roads, bridges, public schools and the general regulatory and police functions of government. A conservative would have no place to drive his hard-earned Mercedes without having his roads and his bridges to drive it on.
A conservative is outraged that a cell phone company could use part of his monthly payment to provide cheap cell phones for disabled and needy people. He/she fails to be outraged by the fact that he is paying for insane multi-million dollar salaries for CEOs and other executives many times the pay of the average employee.
A conservative rejects modern scientific consensus if that encroaches on his perceptions of his own economic self-interest or his religious dogma. A liberal embraces the advancement of knowledge and its implementation in public policy.
A conservative believes that perceived American interests should be advanced by military action if necessary. A liberal favors working with other nations rather than always trying to bludgeon them into going along with America's policies.
A conservative believes strongly in "American Exceptionalism." A liberal believes that America can be exceptional but that exceptional is as exceptional does: America is not always necessarily right about everything simply because we Americans see our country as "exceptional."
A conservative tends to view the less fortunate as undeserving. A liberal understands that not everyone is capable of pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps.
A conservative wants the government to stay out of everybody's life, except in social matters such as abortion, gay rights, regulating pornography or regulating gambling or the sale of liquor. A liberal believes in the concept of live and let live and free choice in personal and social matters.
A conservative wants the government to stay out of economic matters but intervene in social and personal matters in accordance with the conservative's own personal religious and social notions.
A liberal tries to keep his kids from looking at sexual and pornographic images on cable and the Internet. A conservative wants the FCC to implement stricter regulations to "protect" kids.
A conservative believes in spending a huge portion of our national treasure on "defense," even in times such as this where there is no particular threat from other powerful nations. A liberal would rather use some portion of that tax money to help out Americans.
A conservative will always pick what's good for the economy over what's good for the environment. A liberal understands that future generations have to be able to breath and grow food.
A conservative sees the relatively small amount of money spent by government for food stamps and other social welfare programs as in fact consuming a major portion of the state and national budgets and he/she fixates on that and drives all of his/her friends nuts constantly sending out emails protesting about it. This is THE major reason the typical cconservative is a cconservative. A microscopic amount of wealth is being transferred from him/her to undeserving persons, many of whom are not respectable, middle class white people. A liberal understands that such expenses are only a small fraction of government spending so he/she doesn't drive himself and everyone else nuts worrying about it.
Liberals believe in having a social safety net. Conservatives usually don't personally need the social safety net so they see no good reason to have one.
A conservative believes in laissez-faire capitalism, that government regulation of business is unnecessary and that the free market will always govern itself effectively. Liberals are more skeptical about the motives and intent of profit-seeking businesses and favor some degree of government regulation to keep everybody honest and the populace safe and secure.
A conservative is strongly opposed to the redistribution of wealth through tax policy. However, wealthy people paying 15% capital gains taxes on their capital while laboring people pay twice that rate on their labor is not deemed a redistribution of wealth.
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