You hear the words liberals and conservatives all the time when politics are discussed, but what do they really mean? And, is it really bad to be one or the other? Unfortunately, these labels fit into the usual stereotype traps by encompassing a whole world of meanings that don't necessarily match the people who wear those labels. Similar examples would illustrate that not all red heads have bad tempers and not all blonde females are dumb.



Liberal by definition means a lot of things, such as: "lacking moral restraint," and "not literal or strict," or even "Not bound by authoritarianism." It's easy to say that someone who is considered as this liberal label is not someone who believes in the traditional beliefs. While conservative on the other hand is "tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions," or "cautious." Or, put quite simply, they stick to the traditional beliefs. From the definitions you can tell these are two opposite approaches to politics.

So what is it that liberals think of as the truth and what defines their beliefs? Liberals believe that all knowledge is obtained from individual humans rather than one thing being true for all people. They also believe that a person should do things that will be good for all of society. As far as economics are concerned, liberals stand by the belief that wealth should be distributed evenly among society, one person should not be richer then the next because that is unethical. And they believe that we cannot control everything that happens in the world.

On the other hand, the following paragraph includes a few beliefs that drive conservatives to think and act the way they do. First, God is the one from whom we obtain knowledge because he created humans and all rules and standards apply equally to all people. As independent people, individuals need to look out for themselves not for society but understand that their actions will also affect society. People need to work for their earnings and should not receive more or less of what they have earned. And finally, humans control everything. Or, in other words, there is nothing that will happen that they cannot control.

As you can see liberals and conservatives are polar opposites in beliefs and what drives their style of leadership. On the conservative side everything is possibly reduced to a few choices, while a liberal says you have no control in what will happen.

In politics it seems that the majority of the times Democrats are liberal and Republicans are conservative. This is where all the negative campaigns come into affect. For example, when a politician believes in a few of the liberal or conservative beliefs, they are often aligned with all the beliefs and perceived as something different than what they actually may be.

Either way you look at politics, neither side is bad; it's just a difference of opinion. And fortunately, in the United States we are allowed to have our own beliefs even if everyone does not agree with our way of thinking. So next time you are thinking "oh, he's bad because he's a conservative" or "all liberals are evil," think again.