Would like your definitions....

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2003
Would like your definitions....
9
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 7:00pm
I would like your personal definitions of the following words:

Republican-

Democrat-

Liberal-

Independent-

Conservative-

Thanks (o:

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-12-2004
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 7:50pm
Republican- Old Testament value system

Democrat- New testament value system

Liberal- tolerant of other views

Independent- able to make a choice on the merits as seen at the time.

Conservative- favoring keeping traditional values from abrupt change

Thanks- appreciation of something given....(sorry I couldn't help myself)

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-11-1999
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 8:34pm
Just to lighten things up a bit, I'll answer your question with some famous quotations.

Republican:

The only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats allow the poor to be corrupt, too.

Oscar Levant (1906 - 1972)

Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.

Dan Quayle (1947 - )

A bureaucrat is a Democrat who holds some office that a Republican wants.

Alben W. Barkley, U.S Vice President (1949-1953)



In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.

H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

Democrat:

You get fifteen democrats in a room, and you get twenty opinions.

Senator Patrick Leahy (1940 - ), May 1990

I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.

Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)

It's nice to see a Democrat blow something besides an election.

Arsenio Hall, after Clinton's saxophone debut on his show

Liberal:

A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel.

Robert Frost (1874 - 1963)

A liberal is a person whose interests aren't at stake at the moment.

Willis Player

Liberal-Someone who doesn't care what people so, as long as it's compulsary. (Not sure who said that)

Conservative:

Conservative. noun. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from a liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.

Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil's Dictionary

A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time.

Alfred E. Wiggam

When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968)

Independent:

Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.

Ralph Charell

A simple and independent mind does not toil at the bidding of any prince.

Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

It is not the greatness of a man's means that makes him independent, so much as the smallness of his wants.

William Cobbett (1763 - 1835)


And finally, this from Cicero, regarding our presidential race.....

No liberal man would impute a charge of unsteadiness to another for having changed his opinion.

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)



dablacksox


Cynic: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.---Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-23-2004
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 8:39pm
Great post! Wiser people than I, reminding us of the futility of trying to define any of these terms, so I won't.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 9:01pm

These threads always turn out the same with mostly stereotypical liberal rhetoric, which coincidentally is usually what the OP is looking for. Go figure.


http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-elpoliticsto/?msg=2816.1

Renee ~~~

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2003
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 9:11pm
Let me rephrase my question. I know what a democrat is and I know what a republican is. What I am really looking for isn't sarcasm or a useless thread, but rather personal definitions of liberal and conservative. I am a democrat. People always ask me if I am liberal or conservative. After I tell them what I believe on certain issues I am always given a puzzled look, lol. No one, including myself, is really sure... I fall somewhere in the middle.

So are there liberals that are against abortion and go to church? Are the conservatives that are have certain liberal beliefs?

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 9:22pm
welcome splum2004!

Renee ~~~

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-23-2004
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 9:45pm
< I am a democrat. People always ask me if I am liberal or conservative. After I tell them what I believe on certain issues I am always given a puzzled look, lol. No one, including myself, is really sure... I fall somewhere in the middle.

So are there liberals that are against abortion and go to church? Are the conservatives that are have certain liberal beliefs? >

I tend to think you are more the norm than the exception. I would be labelled a conservative in some ways, I'm pro-life, I'm very fiscally conservative (meaning I support lower taxes and believe in free markets and deregulation), I believe in building a strong national defense, but I am opposed to the death penalty, I support some reasonable gun controls, I'm not particularly religious though I do attend church sometimes and support catholic charities, as I said in another thread I think very few people fit the stereotypical descriptions of "liberal" or "conservative". Thank goodness!!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 10:49pm

I don't think it's a question of being a 'true believer.' Most people are more comfortable with one ideology over another whether or not they subscribe to every tenant of it. Those who do are probably the exception instead of the rule. There are conservatives who would support drug legalization and liberals who support school vouchers.


In

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2003
Tue, 09-14-2004 - 12:18am
Thank you Renee and liveanew,

It sounds like I am in the norm then...

I appreciate your responses :)