Liberals and Conservatives

Living in a house that is on the conservative side of the political world, I am constantly exposed to a lot of anti-liberal and anti-Obama propaganda.  Most of the conversations that I have with family end up going to "I hate Obama so much" at some point.  This isn't to say that I think that he's done a fine job with our the position that he was elected into, but I don't hate the guy.  He's well educated, and apparently he can sing an Al Green song like nobody's business.  I'm sure he's a great guy to have at a party, even though he can't really run a government; but hey, at least he's not FDR.

Conservatives say that liberals only want big government and that they believe in crushing the liberties and freedoms that they claim to protect.  Liberals say the same thing about conservatives.  It's a vicious circle that people have been engaged in ever since the formation of the party system in the United States, much to the chagrin of George Washington.

The truth is, both liberals and conservatives want government involvement.  They just want it in different places.  This was basically all that I learned this year in my government class first semester, but it's a valuable lesson.

Liberals want government involvement in things like entitlement programs, welfare, social security, civil rights issues, healthcare, and for regulation of business and the private sector.  Conservatives want government involvement in things like prisons, law enforcement, moral issues, gun control, religious issues and things of that nature.

When I was a kid, I asked my Dad what the difference was between the Democrats and the Republicans.  He answered by saying that Democrats believed that the citizens of the United States should give up their money to the government to use because they thought we were too stupid to do the right thing with it, and Republicans thought that if you earn it, you should keep it.  Coming from a conservative perspective, that sounds about right.  However, the Republican party does end up taxing the wealthy again (whether they promised it in their campaign or not) in the end because they realize that government cannot function without taxing something.  If there is no money in the federal government, then they literally are powerless and we would live in an anarchist society.

Taxation, while not the most fun and exciting thing in the world, is necessary to having a nation that functions correctly, can defend itself, can provide basic services, and can help out those who really need it.  Those on both sides of the political arena realize this and tax accordingly.

So there you have it, a brief analysis on the differences and similarities of liberals and conservatives in the United States.

Since this is my first real post, please comment and give me some feedback on what could be done better, should have been said, overall quality, etc.

Thanks for reading
CB