4/18    Am I a conservative or a liberal? I'm actually quite confused.
        I don't believe in war for ANY reason (liberal), and I don't believe
        in gay marriage (conservative). I do I believe in separation of church
        and state (somewhat liberal), and that religious text like Intelligent
        Design should be taken out of public schools (very liberal). On the
        other hand, I also believe in smaller, more efficient government
        (conservative), and at the same time they should provide more public
        infrastructures for us, like better roads, more redundant power grids,
        equal education across States, etc (liberal). I think SS and housing
        projects should go away, and let low-lives learn how to be productive
        members of society (conservative). I do however support better public
        education and opportunity so that there will be less need for SS and
        housing projects (conservative). I don't mind more taxes, in fact, I'd
        delight in seeing a pre-Reagan tax rate (liberal) as long as there is
        a lot more accountability in the government. I totally support in
        programs that strengthen family values, like going to church or
        community centers (conservative), but not at the cost of public
        funding (liberal). So what am I, a liberal or a conservative?
        \_ "Smaller" and "more efficient" are two separate parts.  When R's
           say "smaller" (at least in the last 30 years) they mean less
           regulation, not necessarily less in outlays (and usually exactly
           the opposite).  They also most definitely do not mean "more
           efficient".  These stands are indeed "conservative" values, but
           they are rarely expressed by R's.
        \_ Neither, you're what's known as the "typical American", who
           is a moderate.
           \_ The typical american is real dumb, with an IQ around 100.
              \_ precisely.
        \_ you're just a wuss
        \_ Sloppy with your labeling.
        \_ So when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, you would have just ... uh,
           what would you have done?
           I think what you meant to say was, "I believe war is always morally
           wrong, but it's at times necessary as a last resort, such as when
           Japan bombed Pearl Harbor."
           \_ Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!
        \_ You are, for the most part, socially moderate and economically
           conservative =~ libertarian.
           \_ except that he wants high(er) taxes.
              \_ I agree:  Wanting less waste in government, while being for
                 higher taxes spent wisely makes him moderate.  However,
                 wanting to get rid of social security pushes him to the Dark
                 ^H^H^H^H^conservative side.
        \_ I don't know anyone who is for less "efficient" government spending
           except the politicians who favor pork barrel spending to keep their
           jobs.
           \_ Until Democrats work "more efficient government" into their
              platform, this property is squarely in conservative-land.
              Sorry, that's just public perception - I'm not really disagreeing
              with you.
              This is especially true now that Dubya has begun real
              implementation of performance-based pay in the area of "cushy
              government jobs".
              \_ Don't you remember Al Gore's "re-inventing government"
                 initiative? He made some headway with it, too, but I guess
                 he didn't get any credit.
                 \_ you forget he invented the INTERNET
                    \_ Actually he wrote the bill to fund APRAnet.  The big
                       "I invented the Internet" Lie never happened, and
                       would have been mostly true if it had.  Take a
                       contrast with the Goerge Bush whopper to take credit
                       for the Texas Patients' bill of rights, which was
                       passed over his veto.  He got a pass from the press
                       on that one...liberal media my ass
                       \_ I like how even in this age of unprecedented
                          communication and recording, something like this
                          so easily becomes folklore and fact, yet people
                          have no problem believing ancient religious texts.
        \_ do you believe in civil unions, then that makes you
           moderate-liberal on the gay marriage issue.   As someone
           moderate on the gay marriage issue.   As someone
           pointed out above, everyone would like more efficient
           government. As for "smaller government," you need to
           decide which you value more: that or "public infra-
           structure, ... education, ... funding."  If the latter, then
           overall, you are on the liberal side concerning the "size
           of government."   Liberals also believe in "family values,
           ... church, ... community centers."  The only issue above
           that is a firmly conservative value is your dismissal of
           "SS and housing projects."  Given that, I would say you
           are a moderate liberal.  A lot of what you believe to be
           "conservative" values that you listed are actually
           media distortions that make you think "liberals"
           don't approve.  For the current US political situation,
           it would seem that Democrats are the party of smaller government.
           \_ What happened to the party of 80 character columns?
              \_ fixed.