[Dems2008] Re: Americans split into four ideological camps

The labels are a convenient but inadequate substitute for thinking
through the merits/demerits of particular policy responses to particular
issues.

Bush and Cheney have abandoned common sense and rationality in American
foreign policy by vastly expanding the use of government to change the
nature of regimes in distant countries. Does that make them liberal or
conservative?

Bush has abandoned the rule of law, our Constitution, and the fair
application of the criminal law to felons. Does that make him a
liberal or conservative?

Whichever it is, please call me the opposite.

--- In Dems2008@yahoogroups.com, rightdemocrat@... wrote:
>
>
>
> In Search of Ideologues in America
> It's Harder than You May Think
> by Scott Keeter, Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, and
Gregory
> A. Smith, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
> April 11, 2006
> In the political caricature of recent years, America is a nation
divided:
> red vs. blue, conservative vs. liberal. "Liberals" tend to favor an
active role
> for government in regulating the economy, but oppose government
attempts to
> regulate morality or private life in the social sphere.
"Conservatives" take
> just the opposite approach, preferring a smaller role for government
in the
> economy but a bigger role for it in promoting morality. Not
surprisingly,
> liberals and conservatives are political opponents on most issues.
> But while there is little question that U.S. politics have become more
> polarized in recent years, the red-blue political shorthand is far
from adequate
> to describe the full spectrum of Americans' political views. Judging
by their
> opinions on a number of issues, many Americans simply do not fit well
within
> either the conservative or the liberal ideological camps, instead
falling
> into one of the two other important U.S. political traditions -
libertarian and
> populist - or defying attempts to pigeon-hole them.
> Americans espousing a "libertarian" ideology oppose government
regulation in
> both the economic and the social spheres. "Populists," by contrast,
favor an
> active role for government in both the economic and the social
spheres.
> Still more Americans are distinctively non-ideological in their
political
> outlook, and so don't fit neatly into any of the four ideological
camps.
> complete report at
> _http://pewresearch.org/pubs/17/in-search-of-ideologues-in-america_
> (http://pewresearch.org/pubs/17/in-search-of-ideologues-in-america)
>
>
>
>
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>

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