Conservative? Liberal? Moderate? Or Just Don't Care?

Dictionary.com defines the word Liberal in ways that I find confusing. It says that liberals "are favorable to progress or reform, favorable to concepts of maximum individual freedom possible."

Wikipedia states, "The main focus of modern liberalism in the United States includes issues such as voting rights for all adult citizens,equal rights, protection of the environment, and the provision by the government of social services, such as: equal education opportunities, access to health care, transportation infrastructure, basic food for the hungry and basic shelter for the homeless."

Hhmmm. These all sound like good things. And maximum individual freedom? That really sounds good.

But Mr. Maybury, in his book, Are You Liberal? Conservative? or Confused?, has a different definition of Liberalism. He defines a liberalist as "A person on the left side of the left-right political spectrum." He says that Liberals believe in less government control in social issues such as drug use, illegal aliens and homosexual rights, but more government control in economic issues ( how we spend our money), which includes such things as taxes, socialized medicine, education, and gun control.

That doesn't sound like maximum individual freedom to me.

I always believed LIBERAL meant a belief in rapid change from the status quo and high government involvement in every aspect of our lives. And I thought CONSERVATIVES believed in less government intrusion in our lives in all areas and in slower and carefully thought out changes in government when needed. So I considered myself a MODERATE, which I thought meant some point in between the two - change when needed and less government control in all areas.

After reading Mr. Maybury's books, I found that both Conservatives and Liberals both want government control, just in different areas. And that Moderates want government control in all areas, not less. No wonder we are all confused! The word "moderate" sounds like it means the middle ground and I think that's what many people believe when they use that term.

Here's a great example Mr. Maybury gave, of the difference in these two belief systems: During the Vietnam war, the Liberal's objective was peace; the Conservative's objective was victory. Neither one wanted war, they just disagreed on how to get there. A current example would be Obama's Healthcare Reform. All Americans know that we desperately need a better healthcare system; both liberals and conservatives can agree on that point. But the way to solve the problem - that is a different story and one that is causing extreme controversy between liberals and conservatives today.

Have the definitions of these political terms changed over time? I would venture that most people don't really know the true meaning of these political words. We just see the "other side" as bad. Maybe the real issue we need to think about is how much do we want the federal government to intrude in our lives?

Mr. Maybury coined a new label, "juris naturalis" which is the belief that government should be limited in all areas, the exact opposite of moderate. I believe that describes my belief. I think a more well-known term is "Libertarian." I don't like this word because it sounds too much like the term "liberal" and seems to be somewhat associated with bunches of people holed up in the woods building their own arsenal to protect themselves.