Since I've seen a few threads devolve into "i'm a conservative and you're a liberal" I thought I might throw this one up here to try to figure out what most people see as liberal or conservative (or the result of liberalism or conservatism). I'll list some things (or supply your own) and then I'd like for folks to label these things as liberal, conservative, neither, or NA.

Here goes:
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1. Interstate Highway System

2. Separation of Church and State

3. Medicare

4. FDIC

5. Federal Reserve

6. IRS

7. Environmental Protection Agency

8. Food and Drug Administration

9. US Department of Agriculture

10. Transportation Security Agency

11. No Child Left Behind

12. Federal Desegregation

13. Affirmative Action

14. NAFTA

15. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

16. National Endowment for the Arts

17. National Science Foundation

18. National Institutes of Health

19. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency)

20. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

(more govt regulatory agencies are found here: http://www.loc.gov/global/executive/fed.html )

21. Roe Vs. Wade (the ruling)

22. War to stop genocide

23. Pre-emptive war

24. Enforcing Corporate Moral Responsibilty

25. Enforcing Personal Moral Responsibilty

Hmm, I think that's enough for the first go.
What do you think?

__________________
You don't go changing horsemen in the middle of the apocalypse.

Liberal (Big Dig project?)

Liberal

Both

Both

Both

Favored by Liberals; Conservatives want to reform it

Both (slightly higher emphasis on Liberal)

Both

Both

Both

Both

Both

Supported by Liberals; challenged by Conservatives

Both

Both

Liberal

Both

Both

Both

Both

Supported by Liberals; challenged by Conservatives

Conservative

Conservative

Liberal

Conservative

http://www.self-gov.org/quiz.html

The nolan model (the diamond on the results page) makes it obvious as to what conservatives and liberals are.

Conservative = Authoritarian Capitalist.
Liberal = Libertarian Socialist.

Those are the simplest definitions I've found.

(I am neither by the way.)

__________________
How many socialists does it take to change a lightbulb?

Answer: Why should they have to change it? The government should provide this essential service for free! And anyone opposed to this is opposed to changing light bulbs and advocates that poor people should sit in the dark!

I took the test. I am a Conservative Libertarian.

Here's my opinions

note: when I say "conservative" or "liberal" I mean classic conservative and the new liberal (socialist) not the classic liberal, which is closer to today's "conservative." By classic conservative I mean: limited govt involvement in business and personal affairs, individual freedom is more important than equality, favoring fiscal responsibilty above social justice. By liberal I mean: the latest american definition, which tends to mean favoring that govt's responsibilty to its citizens, govt stays out of the citizens pursuit of happiness, and (from Wikipedia ) "to expect that the community will regulate and influence the economy as a means to achieve social justice."

Liberal (all highways should be private toll roads)
Conservative if you think it's what the founding fathers intended
"Liberal" (really progressive) if you don't
Liberal
Liberal (from "to expect that the community will regulate and influence the economy as a means to achieve social justice.")
Liberal (same explanation)
Liberal (same)
Liberal? (can one be a conservative and not a conservationist? Teddy Roosevelt started the National Park System, which is really an agency that regulates land usage.)
Liberal
Liberal (from Wikipedia definition)
Conservative
Liberal
Liberal (should private entities be forced to segregate?)
Liberal
Conservative (can't get much more conservative than free trade)
Liberal
Liberal
Liberal
Liberal
Liberal
Liberal
Conservative if you think the fetus is part of a woman's body
Liberal if you think it's not
LIBERAL
either (depends on what you're pre-empting)
Liberal
Liberal


Well, most of my choices were liberal.
All of the govt agencies are those that, by the Wikipedia definition: "American liberals adopted in the 20th century an agenda in which individuals have a right, as members of the community, to expect that the community will regulate and influence the economy as a means to achieve social justice." In addition to the word economy, I would also add "society."

If we were as conservative as we can get, then the government would have only a few responsibilities: to provide for the common defense and protect citizens rights to life, liberty, and property (which common defense falls under).

But wait, let's think about this. A conservative govt's responsibility is mainly to protect its citizens' rights. Wouldn't breathing air polluted by a heavy metals plant be an infringement on my rights? Would a bank failing and losing my savings be an infringement on my rights? Would buying a food or drug that may harm me despite the seller's claims be a violation of my rights? Would my rights be violated by the radiation leaking from an unregulated nuclear plant?

So with my new realizations my answers become:

Liberal (no one said I was born with the right to drive between states on well-maintained superhighways free of charge)
Conservative if you think it's what the founding fathers intended
"Liberal" (really progressive) if you don't
Liberal (or is healthcare part of the right to life?)
Conservative (but shouldn't it be a private corporation?)
Conservative (or is it? do we have a right to a stable currency and does a board of 12 men have a right to decide cost and availability of money and credit in the economy?)
Liberal (no one said I have the right to have a centralized federal revenue and taxation agency audit my finances)
Conservative (I DO have the right to breathe clean air and not run the risk of drinking water contaminated by someone elses carlessness.)
Conservative (it protects my right to eat safe foods and take safe drugs)
Both (it actually has diverse funtions some of which protect people, but a lot are there to regulate the agriculture industry, subsidize farms, etc.)
Conservative (part of defense)
Liberal
Liberal (for private entities) Conservative (for public entities)
Liberal (period)
Conservative (still)
Conservative
Liberal
Liberal
Liberal
Liberal (No one said I have the right to govt help when an earthquake levels my home.)
Liberal (Like all govt research institutions.)
Conservative if you think the fetus is part of a woman's body
Liberal if you think it's not (same as above)
LIBERAL
Liberal if you think the war is not for defense
Conservative if you think it is
Liberal (it would only be conservative if the specific moral responsibilities being enforced would protect a person's natural rights.)
Liberal (But, I really mean all moral responsibilities that are not involved with violent crimes and such. I guess the statement was ambiguous.)

Anyway, what I think I'm trying to get across is the fact that people are throwing these words around, but they can be quite confusing since they may mean slightly different things to different people in different circumstances.

For instance, take the prohibition of alcohol.
To me, this is liberalism. Wait, it can't be liberalism, since it infringes on personal freedom. Wait, don't conservatives advocate that? Well, conservatives couldn't be in favor of prohibition because it's not very traditional. There was never a ban on it before. This is a very progressive measure, then. But, wasn't it supported by fundamentalist Christians? They aren't very progressive right? I hope you see the dilemma.




...

__________________
You don't go changing horsemen in the middle of the apocalypse.