What’s in a Label?

With the political season in full swing, it seemed a good time to break out the dictionary and read what the words CONSERVATIVE and LIBERAL mean.

Conservative

Conservative adj. 1. Conserving or tending to conserve; preservative. 2. tending to preserve established traditions or institutions and to resist or oppose any changes in these: as, a conservative political party, conservative art. 3. of or characteristic of a conservative; as, conservative views.

Some better-known Conservative Politicians:

  • Donald Trump – U.S. president
  • Mike Pence – U.S. vice president
  • Sarah Palin – Governor of Alaska
  • Dick Cheney – U.S. vice president
  • Ronald Reagan – U.S. president
  • Barry Goldwater – U.S. senator
  • Mitch McConnell – U.S. senator
  • George W. Bush – U.S. president
  • Clarence Thomas – U.S. Supreme Court justice
  • Ted Cruz – U.S. senator
  • Marco Rubio – U.S. senator

Some famous conservative quotes:

  • We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan
  • Conservatives have excellent credentials to speak about human rights. By our efforts, and with precious little help from self-styled liberals, we were largely responsible for securing liberty for a substantial share of the world’s population and defending it for most of the rest. — Margaret Thatcher
  • Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have. — Barry Goldwater
  • I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts. — Ronald Reagan

Liberal

Liberal adj. 2. giving freely; generous. 3. large or plentiful; ample, abundant: as, a liberal reward. 4. not restricted to the literal meaning; free and unconfined;’ as, a liberal interpretation of the Constitution. 5. tolerant of views differing from one’s own; broad-minded. 6. of democratic or republican forms of government, as distinguished from monarchies, aristocracies, etc. 7. favoring reform or progress, as in religion, education, etc specifically, favoring political reforms tending toward democracy and personal freedom for the individual; progressive: now sometimes distinguished from progressive, as connoting somewhat more conservatism.

Some better-known Liberal Politicians:

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt – U.S. president
  • Harry S. Truman – U.S. president
  • Lyndon B. Johnson – U.S. president
  • John F. Kennedy – U.S. president
  • Jimmy Carter – U.S. president
  • Joe Biden – U.S. president
  • Bill Clinton – U.S. president
  • Barak Obama – U.S. president
  • Kamala Harris – U.S. vice president

Some famous liberal quotes:

  • “We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isn’t a matter of political correctness. It’s a matter of understanding what makes us strong.” – Barack Obama
  • “The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.” – John F. Kennedy
  • “We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isn’t a matter of political correctness. It’s a matter of understanding what makes us strong.” – Barack Obama
  • “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” – Barack Obama
  • “A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” – Mahatma Gandhi
  • “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

Who do you identify with?

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About Allen Mesch

Allen is an author, educator, and historian. He has written nine books: The Analyst; Teacher of Civil War Generals; Your Affectionate Father, Charles F. Smith; Charles A. Marvin - "One Year. Six Months, and Eleven Days", Preparing for Disunion, Ebenezer Allen - Statesman, Entrepreneur, and Spy, The Forgotten Texas Statesman, The Third Rebellion, and The Traitor. He taught classes on the American Civil War at Collin College. He has visited more than 130 Civil War sites and given presentations at Civil War Roundtables.
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