What makes one liberal or conservative exactly?

The trouble with liberals is just that they know so much that isn't so.

The Liberal ideology is a theory , fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and which holds forth beliefs that have no basis in reality.

They are Advocates of a policy that empowers a strong federal government to enslave its people with the high tax burden incident to the support of extravagant and unnecessary social programs destructive to both the work ethic among the lower class, and the incentive to innovate and succeed among the working people .

Arnie

Liberals believe in government action to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all. It is the duty of the government to alleviate social ills and to protect civil liberties and individual and human rights. Believe the role of the government should be to guarantee that no one is in need. Liberal policies generally emphasize the need for the government to solve problems.

Conservatives believe in personal responsibility, limited government, free markets, individual liberty, traditional American values and a strong national defense. Believe the role of government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals. Conservative policies generally emphasize empowerment of the individual to solve problems.

Let me refresh some points by Tim the Liberal

You're Liberal if -

1. you appreciate people for who they are, but give lower standards for minorities because you think they should be treated like special ed students because of their race

2. you want people to have their human rights, but take away their basic freedoms and impose cost on all the Americans especially the rich.

3. you care about the poor and needy, and you don't want to lose them so you keep the poor, needy and greedy.

4. you aren't gullible, but you re-write history or re-tell what history means.

5. you are more intelligent than most, but you believe so much crap that isn't true

6. lies anger you, but you adore spin that hold only a little truth.

Up bringing. If you are taught to love your neighbors, respect them, help the needy, keep an open mind and never lie, you were brought up as a liberal.

Unfortunately, I live in a heavily Republican area and people won't give me the time of day.

I especially like the eew, get away from me troll looks I get from the apparently wealthy women.

What a bunch of runts (-r, +c).

I think people jump on one or the other bandwagon to feel like they belong. It's like picking a religion, or letting yourself get sucked into an organization. People want to fit in somehow. Staying on the sidelines is hard because then you look too indecisive, and nobody believes you.

If you think the people's tax money is best spent on anything that comes to mind, you are probably a liberal. If you prefer market based/or time proven solutions, then you are probably a conservative.

It comes down to your political philosophy of how you think the country should be run namely, how much power and control do you think the federal government should have in running affairs and your lives. The country started with two broad ideas of how to run the country; the Federalists (now Liberals) and the anti-Federalists (now Conservatives).

American Conservatism believes in equal opportunity, equal justice, individualism and charity. It holds in great reverence the Constitution and it's ideals of limited federal government and natural (individual) rights. Individual rights are those inherent in the people and do not need an outside enabler (like government) to make them work. It also believes in the power and ability of free market principles to make everyones life better. Although these are principles on Conservatism, it is also pragmatic to bend to a certain extent to non-Conservative principles that may already be in place. For instance, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid may be over-steps of limited Federal government, but they are willing to live with them and just reform them from the bloated, bureaucratic, wasteful mess they are. Neither would it want to go back to the pure market-driven, exploitative days of the Industrial Revolution. Conservatism has no problem with natural inequity in life, just as long as individuals are not blocked or impeded in their rising above those inequities. The implied Constitutional mandate of the proper role of government, being the protection of rights and liberties of it's citizens is the mechanism that support this. This does not guarantee happiness, but it protects their pursuit of it. The individual's abilities are what determines how far they can go. For those who have difficulty, there is charity, even a hand-up from government to a certain extent, but not a handout. Compassion is not measured by how many people can be taken care of by government, but by how many DON'T have to be taken care of by government, trapped by welfare.

Liberalism, namely Progressive Liberalism, believes in equal outcome, social justice, collectivism and government welfare. It believes that government should be as active as possible in helping it's citizens as much as possible with cradle-to-grave programs. It believes government must take an active role in removing as many inequities of life as possible. Society must change to support this system of "help". Liberalism believes in human (collective) rights. These kind of rights requires government to supply them and people are entitled to these type of rights. Liberals support redistribution of wealth and envision the role of big-business to serve more directly as more employee support centers and less profit centers, working in “partnership” with government as outlets for government social policies.

Liberalism is represented mainly by the Democratic Party. Conservatism is represented mainly by the Republican Party. The job of those parties are to get politicians with those respective political philosophies into office.

Please notice the spiteful, emotional characterizations some of your answerers use. That kind of language is used when rational, thoughtful arguments for the position is not available. This says something about their creditability.

I think it's all artificial now and people foolishly try to fit into one side or the other, and sometimes they adapt their personal beliefs just to fit in. It's all sad and this country is so partisan, it's ridiculous. So I define both "liberals" and "conservatives" as people who adapt their beliefs to fit into an artificial social construct.

Liberals believe that their freedom comes from government while conservatives believe it comes from the lack of government. That's not to say a belief in no government, just limited government, as a reasonable trade-off. Liberals recognize no limits.

If you feel superior to others, if you think that you are better than most - you're a liberal.

If you want to conserve what you have & enjoy others as they are- you're conservative.

Good question.This article was written JUST FOR YOU

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/brain-...

I'm going to say this but I'm sure Cons will critisize me....

ready ?

People are BORN conservative or liberal.They are born that way.Check out the study that was made.