Can someone please explain what the differences are for....democrat liberals republican conservative etc...?
823395
The two major political parties are the Democratic and the Republican Parties. Words like Liberal, Conservative, and Moderate refer to what a person wants his government to do, whether he wants a huge government or a smaller one. \n\nDemocrats can be Liberal, Moderate, or Conservative.  So can Republicans. During the past 25 years or so, most Democrats have been Liberals, and most Republicans have been Conservatives. \n\nLiberals generally want a government that does practically everything for the individual and the family. They are perfectly willing to enact higher taxes, and have an extremely large government, with lots of rules, lots of departments, and lots of employees, if that's what it takes.  \n\nConservatives believe individuals and families are strong, independent, and can fend for themselves without a lot of help from the government.  So they believe in a smaller government with limited powers and functions. They believe the government should do only those things that the individual and the family cannot do for itself.  Examples are national defense and building roads. \n\nYou have asked a great question.  I suggest you surf the internet to find more information.
915833
Liberal - More government intervention in economics, less in social issues\n\nConservative - Less government intervention in economics, contemporary Christian Right conservatives will say more in social issues, many will say less
485280
Republicans: to conserve national traditions, limit government interference, promote big business, and support democracy causes.\n\nDemocrats: to reshape government, to acquire more government control, limit big businesses, and focus on domestic issues.
279937
Left (wing) is the same as Liberal and right (wing) is the same as conservative.\n\nConservatives claim to be more careful in making changes.  They don't like to change the way things are done unless they think the new way will be an improvement.  \n\nConservatives also tend to interpret the constitution in light of the founding fathers commentary, historical perspectives of the founding fathers, and the actual wording of the constitution.\n\nConservatives are more likely to cut taxes (except in times of war) and cut social programs (except for national defense).  They also tend to hold traditional Values,\n\nLiberals claim to embrace change.  They tend to go more with the trends than with what was done in the past.\n\nLiberals usually view the Constitution as a "Living Document" that changes with the times that we are currently living in.  They view the wording of the Constitution as symbolic rather than concrete.\n\nLiberals tend to raise taxes and increase funding of social programs (except for Defense spending).  Liberals values tend to run with the trends of their time.\n\nstephenvest@...\nYou could at least try to be objective.
233097
Neither party believes in what they say they believe in.  Conservatives spend less yet Reagan and both Bushs ran huge deficits.  The Democrats aren't much better.  Jimmy Carter made George W. Bush look sane as far as many of his domestic and international policies and of course Middle Eastern terrorism against Americans started on Carter's.  The Rebublicans have moderates, liberals and believe it or not homosexuals, while the Democrats have moderates and conservatives including those that still back Bush on Iraq.\n\n\nHere is basically what the conservatives stand for (and you will see where this is going to go).\n1. They want more of a confederacy style government where states have more power and the federal government is weaker.  Just ignore the federal conservatives trying to outlaw abortion and gay marriages.  Those aren't real conservatives.\n2. They want the government to stay out of people's business as in things such as wiretaps, gay marriages, abortion ect.\n3. They want to tax less and spend less. Just ignore those deficits.\n4. They are pro police/punishment.  The death penalty is one of their platforms. Just ignore the extra 100,000 police that Clinton wanted, because the Republican party did.\n\n5.  They still have isolationist tendancies (they hate international treaties and the U.N.), so ignore that Democracy through force policy.
1058221
No to both.\nLiberals are generally people who view individual liberties as paramount. They also tend to believe in the common good and are generally more open-minded and generous. The democratic party use to adhere to theses thoughts plus they were pro-worker. Liberals tend to run the gamut of political parties and are found in the democratic party more so than in the republican party. The democratic party is not completely made up of liberals. Since the Reagan years many democrats have adopted a neoliberal, pro-corporation "free trade" ideology (Clinton, Biden, Lieberman, etc..) and are anything but liberal. \nI hope this answers your question.
824480
This is actually close to the description I use to illustrate the basic difference between Republicans and Democrats:\n\nDemocrats will help feed the people fish.\nRepublicans will teach people to fish.\n\nThis philosophy is kind of a touchstone on how to think about the parties. Democrats are all about the individual, providing for one person at a time, reading to them. Republicans want to help the larger class of people, thus will provide teaching to help the people make their own way.
1169852
I always remember that "left" originally meant "sinister" - so it is the Religious Right and the Liberal Leftist.  Traditionally Right is conservative and Left is Liberal.\n\nConservatives (right) are traditionally thought of as cautious, uncomfortable with too much government and are financially and/or religiously motivated.\n\nversus\n\nLiberals (left - I wonder who decided on these names...) are traditionally thought of as folks who think the government should take care of all it's people and will pass tax bills to pay for it.  They are more religiously tolerant (as long as you keep your religion to yourself) and more likely to try new things.  \n\nLiberals are thought to vote with their heart and Conservatives with their wallets.  Republicans are often considered Conservatives, while Liberals are usually the Democrats.\n\nI am more what you would call a Centerist (I can see some things are correct on both sides of the debate) and a Libertarian (I really think government should get out of our lives - if I had my way, the only law would be "If you damage someone else (physically, financially) you will be punished.  Otherwise, do what you want.")  I usually vote Democrat / Liberal.
830718
Democrats believe in taxation and wealth redistribution. They believe the Government is the solution to every problem.\n\nRepublicans believe that business helps spread wealth. They believe the individual is the solution to the problems they face.\n\nThe difference between left and right........... just shows how well the dumbing down of America has worked!
704310
Democrats are liberals and they like gay marriages and abortion.\nRepublicans are conservatives but they like war just like the invasion of Iraq.
942589
Democrats are people who like to help all people, especially the working class and poor.  Republicans like to cater to big business and extremely wealthy people and drop programs to help the needy.
443230
Liberal = change\nConservative = keeping things as they have always been\nModerate = will swing back and forth between the two depending on the issue at hand
801170
What several have listed are actually conservative ideals.  The republican party is closer to conservatism than the present democrat party, but still not conservative.   Oddly, the democrats in the day of JFK were more conservative than the republican party is today.\n\nUnfortunately the democrat party has gone off the left end of the spectrum and the republicans are heading there too.   We probably need a strong conservative third party if we want to save this country.
214486
Veeery generaly speaking, the Left (liberal) and Right (conservative) of politics came out of the French Revolution.\n\nAt that time, the Left was more concerned with laws that protect people's rights, and the conservatives are more concerned with laws that protect property.  \n\nFrom this, the traditional Liberal and Conservatives have arisen.  No one politican or person exemplifies what the TRUE definition of the words are, but issue by issue, the sides of politics have been created by these factions.\n\nIf you ask me, the terms liberal and conservative are meaningless, because they can't capture the entire persons views, and a person who describes themselves as a dem, repub, liberal or conservative is doing an injustice to the political process.\n\nAll politicians agree that its not about sides, its about issues.  Not about teams, its about debate and progress.
1178387
Good question!  I'm not sure, but it would seem that liberals are taking over the Democratic party and making it too far left for most conservative people that are still Democrats and many Republicans have taken a far right stance because it's becoming predominantly conservative and moral.  It's not a good reflection of either party too far either way and it's sad.
966531
oh wow!  There are 2 major parties in the United States. Democrats and Republicans. Some democrats, well usually most, no offence, can be liberals. Sometimes, they are liberals. Republicans are representated by an elephant. Go to the national republican or national democrat websites to learn about their history and facts. It is pretty interesting.
933158
The manifests of each party really are not that different.  The areas of major difference you hear are mostly rhetoric.  \n\nI was about to write about each in a nutshell but feel I would do it a disservice in this venue.  Suffice to say that when you hear the extremist views here and in the news you do not hear the majority.  Most people tend to the middle, want social programs for children and some adults, do not want high taxes but can pay some, and feel the military is very important.  The 'how' is discussed at length.  \n\nYou seem intelligent so here are the web pages for each party.  Look past the jargon for yourself.