# Are you liberal or conservative? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-liberal-or-conservative/616794 "2012-03-25T22:41:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-liberal-or-conservative/616794/21 "2012-03-26T17:03:02Z")
I’m a centrist democrat ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-liberal-or-conservative/616794/22 "2012-03-26T17:09:34Z")
I believe in most of the things that conservative Americans say they believe in, like personal responsibility and the power of the free market. Which makes me a liberal, because the conservatives in America actually hate those things with a passion whenever they see them. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-liberal-or-conservative/616794/23 "2012-03-26T17:27:52Z")
Seeing as I absolutely despise liberty, justice, freedom and responsibility – yuck, ugh, patoowie, who would want any of that crap? – I guess I’m a liberal. ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-liberal-or-conservative/616794/24 "2012-03-26T18:14:59Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > For clarity, in my post #13 above, when I wrote: your definition of Liberal is simply **a** **conservative caricature** , I meant ‘a conservative’s caricature of a liberal’. How do you figure that? I’m sure that’s what a conservative would disparagingly say about a liberal, but I find myself agreeing with every statement. What, in your opinion, would a liberal object to? ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-liberal-or-conservative/616794/25 "2012-03-26T19:25:05Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > How do you figure that? I’m sure that’s what a conservative would disparagingly say about a liberal, but I find myself agreeing with every statement. What, in your opinion, would a liberal object to? I can’t tell you what a liberal would object to; I can tell you what I object to. I don’t believe it’s the government’s role to make everyone equal. I do believe, however, that the government should enforce equal opportunity and equal access. It is up to the individual to make the most of opportunities. I don’t believe it’s the government’s role or responsibility to ensure no one is in need. That’s kind of ridiculous on its face if you ask me. Some people simply refuse to do anything for themselves; they should be left to their own devices, or lack thereof. I believe it is false that Liberal policies generally emphasize the need for the government to solve problems. There are certain things that the government does that individuals can’t, or won’t, without strong incentive, such as environmental protection, minimum workplace safety standards, and a myriad of other things. However, there are things the government does not do well, and shouldn’t be involved in at all, such as legislating morality, sustaining unsustainable industries, and hundreds of other things. I’m sure there are liberals, and conservatives for that matter, for whom the government is the end all and be all but, as I stated, on the whole, I think that is simply a conservative’s caricature of what a liberal is or wants. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-liberal-or-conservative/616794/26 "2012-03-26T20:42:10Z")
Other: I am a business owner of a day program serving developmentally disabled adults…I try to be socially liberal but fiscally conservative…yeah, it’s a tightrope I walk. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-liberal-or-conservative/616794/27 "2012-03-26T20:53:53Z")
I put “Other”. I use to be very conservative (in American politics), but over the years moved to the center. The past few years the tea party seems to be defining what it means to be conservative and it almost feels like the ground is shifting underneath me so that while my positions haven’t changed recently, I non-the-less sometimes feel slightly to the left sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-liberal-or-conservative/616794/28 "2012-03-26T21:27:28Z")
Extreme centrist. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-liberal-or-conservative/616794/29 "2012-03-26T22:23:48Z")
I espouse enough of the belief system of both sides that neither side wants me. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-liberal-or-conservative/616794/30 "2012-03-26T22:46:38Z")
Just assume that everything **Onomatopoeia** has already said, I said too, including the comment about the ridiculous definitions. By American standards I’m a leftie. By UK standards I’m probably slightly to the right of where the Lib Dems used to be before they sold their souls for power. ---
**Author:** ![Jasper\_Kent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@Jasper\_Kent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasper_Kent)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-liberal-or-conservative/616794/31 "2012-03-26T23:11:10Z")
I checked both “Liberal” and “Other,” because I’m primarily liberal with strong libertarian leanings. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-liberal-or-conservative/616794/32 "2012-03-26T23:19:53Z")
I selected other because I do think your definitions are skewed. Of course, over the last twenty years or so, each party has changed it’s own definitions. I used to be a Conservative because I believed in smaller government. Now I am defined as a liberal because my version of “traditional values” don’t match some others and because I am grateful for the existence of the dole and think socialized medicine would be a good thing (it would reduce our health care costs). But overall, I do wish Congress would put the OMBs suggestions for shrinking and removing redundant agencies into action. It would save us lots o’ bucks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-liberal-or-conservative/616794.md?page=1)