Conservatives vs Liberals

A few days ago my nephew Peter wrote a blog stating that there was little difference between Democrats and Republicans. I do have to agree that both of these parties have become so corrupted that there is little difference between the two of them and that neither of these two parties look anything like what their original values were even just fifty years ago. I do want to point out however that the difference between Liberals and Conservatives however is like night and day. The problem is that you can't find a truly Conservative party anymore. For that matter you can't really find a truly liberal party anymore either. I tried my darnedest not to let Peter draw me in to this discussion because I'm quite sure no one really wants to hear my opinion but after several more posts and comments on Peters blog I just can't help myself. I'm going to dedicate a few postings to expressing my opinion of the difference between Conservatives and Liberals.

Basically the whole discussion can be broken down into the following. Conservatives believe that the role of the government is to protect it's citizens so that they have the freedom to live their lives however they choose and to let them solve their own problems. Liberals believe that the role of the government is to solve all of the problems for its citizens. Those both sound like wonderful values but how those roles break down into every day life is very important. Let me discuss a few important issues and how conservatives and liberals address them.

economy

health care

welfare

immigration

national defense

affirmative action

gun control