First line "They Call" Explain your "They" statement. As "They" the way I see you saying it is people that are not the party and not paying attention to the parties views. If you look at conservative blogs and radio hosts you will notice most are calling the Republic leaders out for calling their moves conservative as their moves are not.
I am saying "they" to cover the general population/news media/etc. "They" was not suppose to convey the cross party alignments.
Also on the side of both Democrats and Republicans there are conservative Democrats (currently are some) and liberal Republicans (use to be, don't know any current ones off the top of my head.
I am not saying all conservatives are Republicans and all liberals are Democrats. That would be a hasting and sweeping generalization... and therefore totally wrong. I am saying that some of them, however, do follow this set.
I am also not saying all Republicans are conservative and all Democrats are liberal. That, too, is a generalization.
Also your nutshell definition of Liberalism is not just lacking it is outright wrong. So lets go through it.
Straight from Merrian Webster: "a movement in modern Protestantism emphasizing intellectual liberty and the spiritual and ethical content of Christianity"
Now quote from you "The Republicans get their platform from the church values, and are, therefore, conservative."
So conservative = Church yet liberalism also = church so conservatives cannot be souly based on "church values"
Yes, content from Christianity. Here is a quote straight from Wikipedia: "Currently the party's platform generally reflects
American conservatism in the U.S. political spectrum." Note the conservatism part.
They also support (from Wikipedia):
"A majority of the GOP's national and state candidates are pro-life and oppose elective abortion on religious or moral grounds."
"Many Republicans support race-neutral admissions policies in universities, but support taking into account the socioeconomic status of the student."
"The 2004 Republican platform expressed support for the Federal Marriage Amendment to the United States Constitution to define marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman. Generally speaking, most Republicans have opposed government recognition of same-sex unions such as with same-sex marriage."
The church opposes same-sax marriage as well as abortion.
Here are some stats for you, CJ (also from Wikipedia):
"Fifty-nine percent of Protestants voted for Bush, along with 52% of Catholics"
The Republican party is obviously favored by the general Christian population. Is it 100% based off church values? Of course not! How could anyone be so foolish to think that? Is a most of it? Yes.
Here is the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29You did get liberty right as your right to do what you want.
Now equality can go both ways. If you do equal work you get equal sharing, and yes equality in the sense you implied would also indicate alike in status (If you could also please go about about if I work harder, more hours, and better quality then someone, why should we be paid the same salary?)
Again, from Wikipedia:
"They are generally against affirmative action for women and some minorities, often describing it as a quota system, believing that it is not meritocratic and that it is counter-productive socially by only further promoting discrimination."
The Republican party tends not to worry with racial policies. When one comes up, they are hesitant about it.
As for economy, they support a free market. That usually means little government involvement. This also means that big business is able to thrive in such a market.
Also back to Democrats being liberals which means pro-choice go to this http://www.democratsforlife.org/
Again, I already covered that not all Democrats are liberals and not all liberals are Democrats.
However, from Wikipedia:
"The Democratic Party, in its national platforms from 1992 to 2004, has called for abortion to be "safe, legal and rare" — namely, keeping it legal by rejecting laws that allow governmental interference in abortion decisions, and reducing the number of abortions by promoting both knowledge of reproduction and contraception, and incentives for adoption. The wording changed in the 2008 platform. When Congress voted on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2003, Congressional Democrats were split, with a minority (including current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) supporting the ban, and the majority of Democrats opposing the legislation."
The Partial-Birth Act has to do with getting an abortion later on in the pregnancy. However, they called abortions "to be 'safe, legal and rare'." The party supports abortion, plain and simple.
Here is the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29#Social_issuesNow on to your explanation of conservatives
Conservative goes more to the end of do what you want to yourself just don't have it effect me to sum it up. The pro-life/pro-choice issue that has been going on does not deal with being pro-choice/life but forcing others to allow pro-choice and not letting organisations chose what they want to be. (Oh ya look at this http://www.gopchoice.org/ )
The Pope (Leader of the Catholic Church on Earth) has back both the republican and democrat party depending on the year. Now the church has always backed some conservative views and also some liberal views so saying they are a big advocate for the republican party is not true, they are a big advocate for the person that is currently supporting the most important of their views which can be either a democrat or republican.
It seems that you are saying the only church is the Catholic church here; I can promise you that is untrue. Protestants (a.k.a. not Catholics) usually support the more conservative Republican party no matter what the Catholics think. Protestant churches do not follow Catholic orders.
As for the conservative argument in the section... I'm not quite sure what you are saying. I think my previous quotes will do my argument some justice.
Right out of the Republican Platform:
"We likewise support the right of parents to consent to medical treatment for their children, including mental health treatment, drug treatment, and treatment involving pregnancy, contraceptives and abortion."
"We call on the government to permanently ban all federal funding and subsidies for abortion and healthcare plans that include abortion coverage."
So after all of that Fox news is conservative because they support republicans?
And the websites follow the news they show on the TV, just the website usually has more.
Link List
http://www.democratsforlife.org/
http://www.gopchoice.org/
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
http://www.gop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/2012GOPPlatform.pdf
The Republicans are seen as more conservative because they oppose liberal movements, such as same-sex marriage, and are therefore seen as "conservatives". FOX news generally backs the TEA Party as well as the Republican party... which means they, in turn, support the more conservative party. Because they support the more conservative party, they are bound to have more conservative views. Because they have more conservative views, they are seen as conservative.
It's basic logic.... I'm unsure as to why you are arguing with this. I am not trying to make hasting and sweeping generalizations, but to show the basic logic behind all this.
As for Ako, thank you for supporting this simple logic.
