You just check in the right box when voting. ^^

I'm just going to assume you're talking about the American conventions of what a conservative or liberal is.

I'd argue that the problem is less conservative and liberals than it is Republicans and Democrats. Though I'm technically a registered Republican, I consider myself to be a fiscal conservative with some libertarian leanings. I make the distinction because I've really stopped towing the party line. While I often support Republican candidates, I've come to accept that they don't entirely conform to my views. Which are not always in line with the Republican party or even other Conservatives.

For example, growing up in an area with high population of workers from Mexico, Central America, and South America, not being too far from Canada, knowing my Great-Grandparents, and having an immigrant brother-in-law, I am a strong advocate for immigration reform. I think it needs to be much easier to become an American citizen while at the same time strengthening border security -not to stop immigrants, but drug and gun runners.

I wouldn't say I support, but I really don't care about gay legal marriages. As a religious person, I believe marriage is a holy union between a man and a woman. At the same time, I do not believe a "marriage" can be performed by a judge, sea captain, or anyone who is not a man of the cloth. Frankly I don't care if two men or two women enter into a legal contract with each other, and while I do believe that homosexuality is an innate sin, I -echoing Pope Francis - believe we are all sinners and that it is not my place to judge. With that, I believe a declining of rights to partners is wrong. Though I have a spiritual disagreement with their lifestyle, the loss of someone losing or having their partner hurt very badly is still a tragedy I recognize. I don't think that we as humans have a right to aide that suffering by denying benefits; punishment is God's domain, not ours. Once more, I do believe marriage is a holy domain, and I actually think any state wedding should be re-defined as a Civil Union, gay or straight, because to me, marriage is holy and sacred act. If two gay individuals enter into a civil partnership, I really don't care and as a Catholic, I really don't care what Lutherans or Baptists do.

Following up on something I said in my last paragraph, I believe punishment is God's domain, and for that I'm personally against the Death Penalty. While I don't advocate abolishing it on a federal level, I would probably vote for abolishing it on a state level. I don't think a government should have the authority to take a life. I loathe big government; why would I want it to be able to kill people? Furthermore, the red-tape caught up with an actual execution often costs the people MORE money than housing an inmate for life. Now let me be clear, I am by no means advocating allowing child murderers to live it up in jail. Give em 1 meal of bread and water, a stone floor, and a locked door and nothing more. Killing a person is just too much for me.

On killing, I detest Nuclear Weapons. Something that has the ability to kill hundreds of thousands in seconds is horrible. I advocate Nuclear energy, and I begrudgingly accept that in this world Nuclear Weapons must exist.

In recent years I've become a bit more of an isolationist. I hate war-hawks and I would prefer to not be involved in it. This is not to say that I advocate total isolationism, but back to speaking softly and carrying a big stick. Personally, were the United States to enter into a conflict more akin to the First or Second World War I would help were I can, I would not fight. I don't have the ability to kill another human being.

I'm a space-hypocrite and I know it. I believe in small government and less government spending....but I have a soft spot for NASA. I won't say that NASA has been cost effective, or even try to explain away how much money they've wasted, but I do believe in the importance of the space program, and I believe that through NASA's research, new tech will be developed that will filter into the private sector and aide the economy.

I'm a museum hypocrite and I know it. What can I say, I'm studying to be an archaeologist? I love museums and without governing regulations, too many artifacts would fall into collectors hands. While I'm often critical of what money goes where in the arts, museums are so heavily vetted in their creation by both Congress and the President, that I think they're a safe place. I know it's not proper of me to say support the museums and forget street poetry or whatever, but that's exactly what I'm saying. I support museums, fuck everything else.


So I hope all of that really helps give you a glimpse into an independent Conservative mind, not someone who is parroting Republican ideals. I'm aware of my hypocritical nature regarding certain things I feel are important, and things I don't, but after all that's what politics ARE. See, people are so used to Democrats and Republicans giving you a list of what to like and what to not like. Republicans are Dish and Democrats are DirecTV; you get a package or nothing at all. Sure, we all dream of an a la carte system, but the mechanization behind the scene aren't allowing it. Were is possible, I'd register as a Conservative back home, but as it stands I'm sticking to what I believe is the lesser of two evils, and I fucking hate that. I've been called a lot of different things; conservative libertarian, libertarian conservative, Breitbart Conservative, but I just prefer calling myself me and leaving it at that. I'll make the call I think it best when I vote.

Except you have democrats and republicans.



Actually you need to think outside the box, you do not have to choose between the two.

I don't know how the American voting system works. I was just guessing. :P

Oh, you have other options, but generally the populace thinks in red/blue. As in republican/democrat. Which cover vastly different ideas than in Europe for example.


I love how people demonize the Obamessiah for doing truly evil things, like giving people universal healthcare.

You know what neither liberals or conservatives seem to talk about much? Politically independent people. Independents almost never come up in those usually childish debates between the two. Such individuals are probably too complex for partisan hacks of either side.

I believe in ending pollution, and the right to own guns. That would probably confuse both sides. It's not just anybody who should own a gun, though. Gun nuts should be kept away from them. I really find it sad that guns are so closely associated with cons. Cons don't deserve guns.

Well he didn't...the bill got so mutilated that now instead of GIVING people health care, it requires them to BUY insurance or suffer a tax penalty. So now you can't even go without if you don't need any like you could before.

I hate the two-party system.

You want to become a liberal or conservative? That's easy! Simply turn your brain off and start watching more news and political programs on TV.

That sounds.. sound. I mean it's the same system we have here, as healthcare insurance is mandatory. I am currently unemployed and I still have to pay for my care every month.

From the looks of it, it's basically the Europanization of the american model. Which is good I guess. Now, wage disparities and that 1%... imo the rich should not get benefits for taxation, neither do corporations need those.

That sounds like good advice. Sadly, there's so much about being either a lib or a con that the media forgets to specify, like what kind of fridge is a lib or con supposed to own? What kind of socks must I wear? What about suitcases? Or houses? Or microwave ovens? Hell, what about kleenexes?

Damn, it's really hard to be the purest of libs, or cons. Surely, partisan hacks of both sides have all these things covered?

(Or probably not, because if they thought about such things, they'd be taking the risk of agreeing with one another on something, and we cannot let that happen, ever, lest hell freezes over)

It's not good because its not freedom. If you don't get healthcare the government will tax you. If you don't pay the government(which it seems just uses our money for wars the majority want out of) you face imprisonment, if you don't submit to imprisonment you will be killed by the government. Universal Healthcare is a great idea but is it freedom? No. Plus it's not as cheap as people make it out to be. Right now I'm on my dads plan for a couple more months but I've had to pay for my own insurance through the company I work for and for good healthcare it will cost you about $400 a month. That's fucking outrageous. And I did some studying on our universal healthcare and I think it wasn't much different.

As far as becoming a Liberal or a Conservative just don't. Look into all aspects of politics. Idk what country you're from and how politics differ from the USA but both democrats and republicans are terribly flawed in the states. And of course I would strongly urge you to look into libertarian views.

@colt1107

You do realize I'm being facetious when I claim I want to be part of either parties, right? I love to make fun of both parties. On nearly every forums, whenever politics come up, you get the exact same arguments between libs and cons, who view everything in black and white, or in this case, red and blue. Hell, this board seems to be one of the few where many of the members aren't fanatically liberal or conservative.

Libertarianism is often brought up as some kind of third party, but many self-proclaimed libertarians on the Internet seem, quite frankly, only like cons who are unsatisfied with the mainstream con party. And anyway, I don't want to be part of any political groups.

As for where I'm from, in regards to politics, it doesn't matter. The politicians there are assholes, just like American ones, and British ones, and French ones, and the politicians of every countries, and every states on this planet.

Now, one very important question about libs and cons I have to ask: what kind of drawer do the two parties respectively prefer?

So what? Why wouldn't you sign up for healthcare, I mean it's a no brainer. That healthcare is not cheap, that's an entirely different story. We have mandatory healthcare too, and yes, I also have to pay for it since I am unemployed and will have to until I find an income or a job.

"I love and treasure individuals as I meet them, I loathe and despise the groups they identify with and belong to" - George Carlin

Here is a gem I found. just to illustrate that this debate has looong roots., from one of my bygone heroes:

“Intellectually, the Republican idea deserves the tolerance and respect one gives to the dead.” - H. P. Lovecraft


As for the Republicans — how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut their eyes to history and science, steel their emotions against decent human sympathy, cling to sordid and provincial ideals exalting sheer acquisitiveness and condoning artificial hardship for the non-materially-shrewd, dwell smugly and sentimentally in a distorted dream-cosmos of outmoded phrases and principles and attitudes based on the bygone agricultural-handicraft world, and revel in (consciously or unconsciously) mendacious assumptions (such as the notion that real liberty is synonymous with the single detail of unrestricted economic license or that a rational planning of resource-distribution would contravene some vague and mystical ‘American heritage’...) utterly contrary to fact and without the slightest foundation in human experience? Intellectually, the Republican idea deserves the tolerance and respect one gives to the dead. -H. P. lovecraft, 1936

I would say that the principles of liberalism are good. equality for all, freedom, etc. The problem is, however, that most liberals just don't have the required open-mindedness and imagination to fully do their principles justice. Too many of them are as simplistic and as fanatical as their conservative counterparts. Too many of them, quite frankly, are hellbent on being the direct opposite of cons in every ways.

What I mean is, since the majority of cons are christian, and diss other religions, then libs, on the other hand, only bash christianity, and respect other religions. Whenever there's some news about say, muslims, doing appalling things in the name of islam, the reactions you usually get are bigoted cons bashing islam for said atrocity, and the libs, usually, barely seem bothered by the actions of said fanatical muslims. Because, you see, if libs also showed disgust, they might find themselves *GASP!* agreeing with cons on something! And we just can't have that now, can we?

Another example, is that lot of white liberals seem ashamed to be white (while white cons consider themselves the master race). They claim to oppose racism, but they don't seem to care when whites find themselves victims of it. Like all white people deserve it for the enslavement of Africans, and the near genocide of Native Americans.

Well, I'm no hypocrite. I find all religions equally ridiculous. christianity, islam, scientology, whatever. And I'm not going to feel responsible for things that scum who happened to be the same race as me did, as I wasn't even around back then. For all their claims of opposing racism, many libs do seem to think that your ethnicity defines you as a person, and that white skin is synonymous with bigotry (like that isn't a bigoted thought too!).

I could be way off-base here, but it seems there are libs who try to justify the oppressive customs of non-white/non-American cultures. I remember this article about an Iranian actress who caused a stir in her culture for kissing a man on the cheek who wasn't her husband, and that religious pricks over there wanted her to be publically flogged. I read some twit's comment that tried to rationalize such a stupid reaction. Like, it's another culture, so they might be within their rights to do something so barbaric over something so insignificant. I doubt that's the kind of thing most cons would say, since they tend to vilify other religions for doing something they themselves would love to do in the name of the nail-fetishist poster boy, Jesus.

Again, just observations. All in all, I'm glad not to be either a liberal, or a conservative, or a libertarian (just a different breed of cons). It's so liberating.