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In Reply to: Re: conservative? liberal? & the Atlantic divide posted by MG on December 16, 2007 at 03:03:10:
It sounds like the European liberal is what's called libertarian in the U.S. There's a very interesting tension between libertarians, who are considered conservatives in their stance against big government, and social conservatives, who want Big Brother to uphold and reinforce traditional values and standards. Libertarians will say the government has no place in regulating personal morality. They will also say the government has no place in foreign interventionism and nation building.
Well, no one ever said it's necessary to be 100% consistent in order to form an effective voting block.
It seems to me that the demonization of the word "liberal" by conservative media has obfuscated any real differences between a liberal and conservative position. Deficit spending reflects a liberal, big government fiscal policy. However, deficit spending is only liberal when the policy mechanism is one of "tax and spend." If the policy mechanism is "borrow and spend," then it's conservative. If the size of government grows exponentially in the area of executive authority and national security over individual rights, it's conservative. But if the size of government grows exponentially in the area of health and human services and regulatory authority over business, it's liberal. What's the difference if the net effect is a bigger Big Brother?
