general Liberal or Conservative?

[Dreambiscuit 9,786]

I'm arch-conservative across the boards. 

[TBD 17,254]

New Era Enterprisers is more of it. 

[Monsoon 1,662]

I don't like politics as a whole however If I had to choose one or the other I'd pick right instantly I can't stand the left. I feel like I can put up with the right unlike the left 

[The Historian 516]

Neither because both sides are absolute, unmitigated garbage. Go Libertarian.

[Misty Shadow 7,882]

I'm apolitical and have never truly been on the side of the left or the right. I used to feel more "liberal" to the point where I had difficulty understanding why so many people were conservatives and giving credence to stereotypes about conservatives just being hard-headed bigots stuck in the past as a result of my upbringing in a Christian fundamentalist household. Part of me was suspicious about things I was being told not being the truth, but I felt no real motivation to research into what I was suspicious of until after Trump won and I saw a huge change in not just liberals whom I long believed were on the side of free speech and being fair to everyone, but people whom I thought were my friends and acquaintances too. I've felt more "conservative" since I realized that not only was the left on the side of censorship and control, but that nothing they told me that I hadn't already believed was grounded in facts whatsoever. The real side that I'm on though and always want to stay on is the side of the truth, and I will always argue not for a side, but for what I know from observation of the truth how people are being manipulated and used. 

[Prospekt 11,018]

I'm a libertarian.

Some might say I'm a combination of liberal and conservative, but that's incorrect. I'm a liberal, but in a "the government should stay out of people's personal lives as long as they aren't harming anyone" kind of way, which is different from progressive social liberalism which requires more government intervention rather than less. I'm a conservative, but only when it comes to the size and scale of government. I believe that the state should primarily exist to 1. protect people's inalienable rights, 2. help settle civil disputes, and 3. provide a military to defend against attacks by foreign countries.

[Lucky Bolt 35,063]

I'm a libertarian leaning more towards the conservative side...if that makes sense. 

Edited April 10, 2019 by Lucky Bolt

[Here No Longer 5,276]

I don't really like politics but I consider myself a left-wing libertarian. I support left-wing ideas, but also libertarian ideas if that makes sense.

 

But I will say this is a flawed question. It's basically asking if you're far right or more moderate but also a bit authoritarian, right. I mean that's what modern liberalism REALLY is. Inverse fascism clouded by a bad attempt to woo naïve leftists into believing in it. It would make more sense if it were asking are you a left-winger or a right-winger? Or, far better, what philosophy do you identify with politically?

Edited April 10, 2019 by Dusky, the Boy Queen

[Treeglow Flicker 13,671]

Neither.

Politicians in general are on my naughty list.

[Rainbow Cloud 17,978]

To be honest I'm pretty fed up of politics and politicians at the moment but I lean more centre right.

I'm not really a fan of the Liberal/Conservative labels as I think they're kind of misleading as parts of the left can often be the complete opposite of the word liberal being censorious, authoritarian and regularly resorting to bullying and intimidation of opponents. The conservative label also has unfortunate connotations as it is ofen used a way to label the right and being old fashioned in their views, unable to accept change etc which isn't true for the majority of the right.

In the ideal world probably the best thing would be for people with different opinions to work together to strike a balance between the ideas of both sides to find something harmonious that appeals to a majority but that's unlikely to happen.

Edited April 10, 2019 by Rainbow Cloud

[Cyclone 1066 3,619]

I, like 90% of America, sit in the middle. I agree with some stuff that both parties say. We even took a what party are you test in high school and I was 62% Republican and 38% Democrat but that was before the big "Blue Wave" malarkey so it's probably more like full 70/30 now.

[Zestanor 98]

Interesting to see fewer liberal people than I expected. I for one am quite conservative. I used to be a libertarian, because the "dogmas" of libertarianism are airtight within the framework of libertarianism ("if you can't take money from your neighbor why is it different for the government? etc.). But, after the 2016 election cycle, and my first few doses of real life in college, I went back to the religion-driven quasi-conservative sense from my upbringing. "Traditionalist" has many connotations, depending on context. But I am alternatively a traditionalist and a conservative in nearly the same sense as J.R.R. Tolkien, whose literature is influential on my worldview.

[Anneal 2,197]

21 hours ago, Dusky, the Boy Queen said:

I don't really like politics but I consider myself a left-wing libertarian. I support left-wing ideas, but also libertarian ideas if that makes sense.

 

But I will say this is a flawed question. It's basically asking if you're far right or more moderate but also a bit authoritarian, right. I mean that's what modern liberalism REALLY is. Inverse fascism clouded by a bad attempt to woo naïve leftists into believing in it. It would make more sense if it were asking are you a left-winger or a right-winger? Or, far better, what philosophy do you identify with politically?

Also, political ideology varies from region to region. A German conservative is vastly different from an American conservative, and a Japanese liberal is vastly different from a British liberal. One good example is Taiwanese politics; Taiwanese liberals actually advocate for Taiwanese nationalism and the independence movement while increasing military spending to defend against China. This is despite nationalism and increased military spending been seen as aspects of the American right-wing. Meanwhile in Germany, the CDU (Merkel’s party) is conservative but heavily pro-EU and pro-immigrant, and are usually considered centrist, if not liberal, in other countries.

[privet 180]

i'm     conservative

 

 

[Iforgotmybrain 5,694]

Closest label would be Social Libertarian. Simply because I believe in the apparently very controversial idea of social and economic equality.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Iforgotmybrain

[Dark Horse 12,961]

I generally consider my own stance to be centre-right. I used to be quite liberal in my younger years, but gradually shifted to be more conservative as I distanced myself from 'mainstream' politics. I dislike extremism from either side, and there are still some liberal ideologies I can agree with, but most of my stances nowadays lean firmly into the conservative territory.

[Lucky Bolt 35,063]

I'm very much in the middle, still fully libertarian here. 

[Kantet 180]

Liberal of course, but more centrist

[Sonic Shimmer 4,132]

I’m definitely left leaning but I oppose extremism and totalitarianism on both sides of the political spectrum.

[Octavian 5,421]

filliberal? horservative?

libercorn? consearthative?

conservasus?

liberfoal!

ok, I'm a liberfoal.

Now how many points do I receive?

[Silly Druid 6,989]

This is a false alternative, liberal and conservative are not opposite.

On the liberal-authoritarian axis, I'm liberal.

On the conservative-progressive axis, I'm centrist.

[Envy 6,166]

Probably on the non-US scale of things, I'm moderate, leaning left. By US standards I am definitively left, I have nothing in common with today's Republican Party. The US's scale of politics is skewed so far right I have to make this clarification because it would be weird for me to call myself left by European standards.

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,985]

On 2019-03-07 at 11:48 PM, Luna the Great of all the Russias said:

I am confused by the definition of Liberal and Conservative as it is often used; it seems that the term Liberal is often used in place of Socialist (I suppose ultimately valuing equality over freedom) and ironically is more authoritarian in nature, and Conservative... its definition is not obvious to me.

I think Classical Liberal is the best description of my political leaning. I have immense distrust of government and, for the most part, I see no legitimate role for it to have other than protecting property rights, enforcing law, and defending the country. Any role beyond those three should be handled by the market. The problem with government getting involved in regulating something is that it tends to become counterproductive and encroach onto other matters outside its original purpose, its bureaucracy has little to no incentive to better itself (a dissatisfied individual cannot simply refuse to purchase the service nor vote them out), and they are difficult to kill; at least there is a chance for you to refuse service to a private monopoly whereas you must pay your taxes even if you vehemently oppose a given government function. Any government attempt to control the economy benefits special interests and makes everyone else worse off (antitrust laws help maintain monopolies and oligopolies, minimum wage increasing unemployment rate, rent controls making living expenses more costly, etc). In the free market, however, everyone must engage in mutually beneficial transactions. In short, government not touching the economy.

I have been thinking about the idea that permanently maintaining a minimal state as I described would be well worth sacrificing suffrage; democratic political incentives tend to be based on a far shorter time span compared to that of the economy so politicians are more tempted to cave to special interest groups for votes rather than actually improving the economy in the long run. However, I doubt there is a way to actually create such a state or to maintain it without being corrupted somehow; I find myself agreeing with the saying that democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others.

Since the time I made this post, I have become, in a sense, a "pure Liberal" -- i.e. Anarchist of the Capitalist variety; my view of the state degraded to such an extent that I see it as an inherently parasitic entity that tends towards encroaching on everything while degrading the quality of everything it consumes. Though it is valid to argue that a sort of Anarchist world order is a utopian vision, my general inclination is that greater political decentralization is better for all as it forces states to compete against one another; anarchy is the opposite of monopoly. In short, on this matter, I have gone towards the logical conclusion of the views I held four years ago.

l suppose I would also consider myself Conservative... except what is considered Conservative often strike me as being too Progressive, so I may consider Reactionary as more fitting. In short, the puritanical social order that takes seriously some notion of the transcendent is likely to survive longer than the libertine social order that disregards the notion of the transcendent.

However, those who disagree with the values of their social order should be allowed to leave to join another social order more compatible with their values.

Edited July 29, 2023 by Luna the Great of all the Russias

[Steve Piranha 29,424]

Neither, I’m neutral, but that’s enough for some to consider me an alt-right Nazi 

[daviddaviddavid 776]

I'd identify as libertarian before I'd identify as liberal or conservative. I think the government should be as small as possible and things should be, wherever possible, regulated at a local level by elected officials from within communities. There's probably a bit of overlap with both what people take "liberal" and "conservative" to mean in common parlance there - if you'd force me to pick one of the aforementioned then the truth is that it'd probably come largely down to the candidate.