In Honor of Both Top 10
 

How would you defined liberals and conservatives. Be specific on issues please.

Very very very often I see that the lines are drawn very blockly

liberal = democrat (or Liberal)
conservative = republican (or Alliance/PC)

However, that's really a large simplification. For instance, a typical conservative is extremely financially conservative - however the Liberal government in Canada is very financial conservative but the Bush (a Republican) administration is not.

It is these sort of paradoxs that muddle up things.

But just for instance - I am socially liberal while financially conservative - a Grit if you've ever seen one!

A conservative is somone who believes it when he sees it.
A liberal is someone who sees it when he believes is.

When I'm the King of the World, both of those words are going to be removed from the dictionary and banned from public speech.

I don't think the terms are as black and white as political pundits - on both sides - would have us believe. I think that in middle America, most people do have democratic ideals, meaning they support looking out for your neighbors, caring about the welfare of your community and your country (and I don't mean handouts), and in equal opportunity for everyone. But those ideologies have been so brutally twisted, maligned, and abused -- on BOTH sides -- that people believe that you have to choose one over the other.

One of the reasons I didn't vote for a democratic candidate in 2000 was because I couldn't tell the difference between the Democratic Nominee( Gore) and the Republican Nominee (Bush). Clinton was a Republicrat - he was truly a "compassionate conservative" if you look at his record (although some would disagree with the 'compassionate' label). Liberals and conservatives have more in common than they'd like to admit, but both sides have been so demonized that they refuse to see it.

Depends on which side your on the definitions will be totally different. I think the best people to answer the question would be independants or someone other that democrats and republicans.

Oh, the irony! :D