Posted on 03/06/2014 7:50:44 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
A couple months ago, a Gallup poll recorded a small uptick in the percentage of Americans who identify as “liberal” — to 23 percent, or what Gallup, eliding the margin of error in the poll, called a “new high.” My Post colleague Chris Cillizza wondered if liberal was “no longer a dirty word.”
We will see. After all, there were far more conservatives in that Gallup poll, which, for some, means we’re still a “center-right nation.” But whether people call themselves “conservative” isn’t necessarily that telling in the first place. A recent book by two political scientists shows that liberal may be a dirty word, but liberalism is alive and well — even among people who call themselves “conservative.”
In Ideology in America, Christopher Ellis and James Stimson describe a striking disjuncture. When identifying themselves in a word, Americans choose “conservative” far more than “liberal.” In fact they have done so for 70 years, and increasingly so since the early 1960s.
But when it comes to saying what the government should actually do, the public appears more liberal than conservative. Ellis and Stimson gathered 7,000 survey questions dating back to 1956 that asked some variant of whether the government should do more, less, or the same in lots of different policy areas. On average, liberal responses were more common than conservative responses....
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Men are women. Women are monkeys. Children are led weights. The light is darkness. Up is down. Left is right. In is out.
Did I miss anything?
Conservatives are more pro freedom.
They’re playing with labels. Someone who believes in free speech, freedom of religion, a free market, and a social contract called the Constitution was, in the late 19th century, a liberal. Today he’s a conservative. It’s a really silly semantic game.
Likely associated with the legalization of Weed in various locales.
“Why most conservatives are secretly liberals”.
Oh I get it. I hate Odumbo but in secret, I’m a big fan of his. Boy, that makes sense (BLEEEECCCHHHHHHHHH)
A question for those FReepers stuck in liberal wastelands such as California, New York, Massachusetts and so on, do the Democrat candidates use the term "liberal" in their advertising or is that word still toxic even in those states?
It depends how you ask the question. I’ve also seen plenty of polls that ask “Do you prefer higher taxes and more government services, or lower taxes and fewer services?” Lower taxes and fewer services usually wins by 2-1.
Do conservatives believe in invasion or indoctrination? Do liberals believe in invasion? Did this meathead cover this beloved topic?
“Everything is anything”
Not me. I want government to back off and (at most) stop people from interfering in my life. Don't do me any favors: just leave me alone. I don't care what vocabulary they want to dress that up in, it's not a Liberal view.
Conservatives are liberal. Progressive totalitarian statists just hijacked the word.
They hijack a lot of words. That’s the game they play.
Transgender LGBT bites Dog.
They conflating conservatives and Republicans (RINOs) again? Really isn’t cute of them to do anymore.
Let the left speak in their own echo chamber - never let left define a conservative
I am and will always be a ‘Classic Liberal’ which is by today’s standards a Conservative. But make no mistake, I find nothing redeeming in central planned economics (big government) or the fascism we’re living with today.
What is the meaning of this cold winter?
WTF!
True. Or people who question authority were considered liberal. Now liberals are conformists and if someone breaks from the ranks or does not hold the same thought, those people are outcasts.
Why most people who agree really disagree.
Why women are really men.
Why the sun is in reality the moon.
Why white people are secretly black.
Why Cowboys are really Indians.
Why stupid senseless articles are just stupid senseless articles
An article with a such a premise in the title is less than meaningless.
It defies cognitive rationale.
It makes an oxymoron seem dogmatic.
Get outta here.
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