Psychological differences between Liberals&Conservatives????

I'm not really clued up on politics and all that, but I do have opinions on certain things like homosexuality, gun control, gay marriage etc, but I was just wondering what makes a person liberal or conservative? What kind of mind set makes you one or the other? I've heard that liberals are more rebellious to authority while conservatives are more obedient and more respectful of leadership.

How do I know if I am lib or con, can a person be both???

Tell us your views on each topic and we'll grade you on a scale of which way you lean more - liberal or conservative. :)

I remember reading about some study that was done awhile ago that conservatives have a higher tendency to rationalize than liberals do and as a result are happier on average.

Just form your own opinions about the things you find important and don't worry about staying within the liberal or conservative agenda

The majority of Conservatives are assholes, and the majority of Liberals are morons.

That is the difference.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/26/liberals.atheists.sex.intelligence/

Just try and stop us

Maybe a quick breakdown of the key differences would help you determine where you align. Here you go:

Liberals: Support and believe in the idea that government action should lead to equal opportunity and general equality. They believe that a key purpose of the government is to balance out areas of social inequality and protect individual rights, as well as to ensure that no one is left behind socially or economically. The key concept here is: The government should work to fix our problems.

Coservatives: Key concepts include limited government, support of a free market, individual liberty and responsibility, traditional values, and strong national defense. Basically, the idea is that government should be around simply to protect and ensure that the people have the freedom to achieve whatever it is that they want to achieve, while offering little in the way of true solutions/interference.

That's all in theory, of course. In real world situations, your mileage may vary.

"and the data should not be used to stereotype or make assumptions about people, experts say"

yeah, that might happen...

I feel like it's important to point out that there's more than just liberals and conservatives , as Noam Chomsky once said "the smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum"

well duh

conservatives seem to be butt hurt almost all the time

liberals are bleeding hearts with their hands out.

@thegerg: isnt it quite liberal to support equal marriage rights?

It's funny that conservatves are economically liberal.

@jasean79: "Tell us your views on each topic and we'll grade you on a scale of which way you lean more - liberal or conservative"

I will do that but not just yet, I don't want to turn this thread into a debate on my views just yet lol

How is that conservative?

"Conservatism as a political and social philosophy promotes retaining traditional social institutions."

Differences? Hmm, probably what motivates them...

There's probably a bit of a culture clash between Americans and Europeans when talking about political terms like liberals and conservatives.

@thegerg: "Marriage is a traditional social institution. I don't like the idea of the state having such control over who can take part in it"

I guess your talking about gay marriage

which isn't traditional.

In America, it's because the country is gradually moving away from their outdated values.

This is actually a really fair breakdown.

What defines a liberal is what I bolded there. It's completely liberal. Very little of what you wrote was liberal has actually anything to do with liberalism. Some of it like almost anti-thetical to liberalism. And what you wrote as a conservative is actually a liberal-conservative.

Fair enough. Those are more so general ideologies that define those camps as we understand them in modern American politics.

I accuratly described the USA. And no, same-sex marriage is not traditional in the smelly USA. The indigenous victims were never an inegral part of the smelly USA.

But conservatim is defined upon tradition. So yes. If you supported it as a liberal it would make sense.

I think I did hear something similar about conservatives being happier. I guess liberals are more likely to be sad, negative nancy pelosis.

There are many different areas where a country could be primitive and old-fashioned. Not just technology. In any case, the US is definitely not in the top of any technology list. And if you ain't first you're last.

No, it's the truth.

I consider myself fairly conservative, but I also hold some progressive and classically liberal beliefs. So you can definitely have a smattering, but you can't be of two different view points on the same subject.

@themajormayor: , @thegerg: While I am getting a kick out of y'alls little argument, could you both possibly not quote the entirety of it so it's easier to scroll down and read the hilarity?

Thanks in advance ole boys.

What do you get when you put an American hating troll together with a semantics troll? You get a gerg match of doom.

Red states all have a far lower IQ.