Liberal Or Conservative?

 

[Note - because i cannot cover everyone's specific political leanings, consider the "Liberal" side meaning "Left" (and wanting to facilitate change: progressive), and "Conservative" meaning "Right" (and wanting a natural progression of societal change: traditionalist) of the political spectrum in your respective countries or regions]

Conservatives and Liberals irritate me

 

That's another misconception, as the world doesn't end in Europe and the US. ... in South America, Conservatives are usually ancient landowners, church-going traditionals. But their vision of the economy is actually not that close to the one of the Republican Party, for example, as they still see some good in the existence of the State (as opposed to the Republicans -speciall reaganites- who would love to see the goverment only taking care of foreign issues). In South America, liberals are misunderstood. There are the so-called "neo-liberals", which sometimes are really the conservatives () which want a stronger market, and the traditional liberals, who want even more government but don't quite agree with an economic system! People in South America, specially in Andean countries, have been lied and told that we live in capitalism, which couldn't be any more far from the truth, as we don't have a lot of the requisites for a true free market and issues like monopoly, oligopoly and other "polies" still exist, along with something called "cacicazgo" (the figure of a powerful, messianic leader which everybody follows...).... There's also POPULISM, which americans hardly know. That's a non-ideological ideology ( believe me, that's a way of saying it) where everything is done to the please the masses while not changing their situation one bit. And, finally, what you call "left wing" in Southamerica is divided into two: those who think more socialist goverments like those in Europe are needed (Social Market Economy, an oxymoron but what can I do), but never quite figuring out HOW to go there, and the dinosaurs, the true LEFT wing, those that didn't sleep properly and still believe in Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, Mao, Castro and the Prophet for the Ones who Fail and Envy, "Che" Guevara.

 

Oh how we would love to have your bi-partisan societies! Where you have reached a point where you can divide most people's views in 5 or 6 main directions like this poll does....

 

By the way, I'm a weird libertarian. .... I'm all for ABSOLUTE LIBERTY of everything (including doing yourself harm), ZERO CHURCH (even if I believe in some Bigger Thing, whatever it may be, I ABHORR most religion-imposed "morals", as those are the morals of the ANTI-HUMAN)... but at the same time, I want strong enough governments that can DO SOMETHING.

 

Whatever I just said, I hope you'll get it.