Politics: Political conservatives and liberals

There are stereotypes for both groups.

As I see it, most liberals and conservatives want the same things: keep the kids and the people safe, cure cancer and have world peace and various other good things. Who could be against such things!?

The question is how do we get there and what is the role of government?

As a general rule, liberals want more government and conservatives less government.

So for instance on economic matters: more or less regulation of the free market economy? Regulation requires government.

Of the various government programs regarding social welfare: is this program better run by the government or by a for profit business or non-profit organizations? And if government needs to be involved which level (federal, state or local) is better suited to run it?

National defense is where there can be blurring of lines. There are 9/11 democrats. As a matter of history, the Democrats in the distant past were pro-national defense. Ironically, it was the Republicans who needed Eisenhower to save the party from its isolationist wing. And it was Democrat, John Kennedy who ran on the "missile gap" saying the USA was falling behind in developing ICBMs. His inaugural address included the line:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

The roles are more or less reversed these days with the neoconservatives pushing democratization in the world and the Democrats saying leave the rest of the world alone. And on defense matters, the most noted pro-defense Democrat is Joe Lieberman. And he had to leave his party to retain his senate seat! On the GOP side there are non-interventionists like Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul.

With the 2008 elections coming soon, I'll probably blog more political stuff but this will not be a hard core political site. There are plenty of those. Instead, I'll just occasionally give my analysis or jump on my soap box. All in all, this site aims to be the "kinder and gentler" political comment site when I wade into that realm.

The first thing I should do is state where I come from politically: I'm center-right with some libertarian leanings. I'm influenced by some of the social justice thoughts within Christian ethics but I tend to think the government is not always the best vehicle to help make progress on that front.

So what does that make me?

To the liberals, I'm a heartless conservative. To the conservatives, I'm a squishy bleeding heart.