I believe in a womans right to chose for or against abortion for HERSELF... I believe in Civic Values and Civil Rights.. I believe in changing the way we treat the environment. I believe in fair rights for women (I don't know why this comes as a seperate issue than Civil Rights, but for some reason we always split it up.) I believe in a more defensive stance for the military.

I am a conservative.

I believe in civic values and civil rights. The major political party I am most closely associated with are the Republicans which started as the anti-slavery party. It is the party that fought a civil war to free slaves. Its leaders helped bring the vote to African Americans and women against opposition from the Democratic party. 

I believe that civic values and civil rights also means personal responsibility and duty to help society as opposed to being a burden on society or advocate that someone else do more for society than what I myself am willing to contribute.

I believe in protecting the environment.  I am most closely associated with the party that created the EPA, that created the national park system, and invented the concept of conservation in American politics -- the Republican party.

I do not believe that the enviornment should be treated as a political token to be abused for votes from misinformed voters.  I do not believe environmentalism involves insisting that other people do more than I am willing to do to protect the environment. 

I believe in equal rights for women. I am most closely associated with the party that helped give women the right to vote. The party that put the first woman on the supreme court.  I am part of the professional class that actually hires and pays women fair wages for their work as opposed to those who advocate what other people - not themselves - should do.

I believe our military should be used for defense. It should not be used as a police force to be sent to places like Yugoslavia or Somalia or other places. It should be used strictly to defend the United States and its interests.  I believe the 9/11 represented an act of war by Islamic Fascism and that part of defending our country is doing what is necessary to prevent further attacks such as helping defeat Islamic Fascism across the world.

I am a conservative. I believe people should have control over their own destinies. I belive that people should not advocate policies that they themselves are not affected by. 

I am a conservative. I believe in the power of the people. I believe that citizens should have the right to vote for the laws that they live by as opposed to having laws created by judges.  If I don't like a law, I do not believe that the judicial system is how it should be changed but instead I should have to persuade the majority of the validity of my position and then achieve change through the elected legislature.

If you' re interested in discussion, I have a few questions about the abortion thing:1. How do you resolve the question of a woman's right to choose life or death for another human being? This is not meant to be a loaded question; if you don't believe another human being is invovled, I won't complain.2. Speaking of other human beings involved in abortion, what about the father? As things currently stand, a woman can unilaterally decide to carry a baby to term and keep it for herself. In this case, the father is legally required to support the mother and child, even if he did not want to keep the child. There's an obvious "equal rights" question here, but it's not quite the question I intend to ask.Rather, regarding the father, would you say that it's reasonable or unreasonable to allow the father to "abort" a child he doesn't want, by simply refusing to support such a child, regardless of the mother's choice to keep the child?To me, these are a couple of the more complicated and confusing aspects of abortion. I hope that you are interested in these issues, and can give me your reasoned liberal thoughts on them.

Okay Stute, I know this wasn't directed to me but I'll just let you know my view point. I don't think it is a human until it is born. Until it is born, it is a potential human. I think that the man makes a choice when he chooses to have unprotected sex. If he doesn't want to support a child he shouldn't be having sex. In the perfect world, only responsible adults in a committed relationship who have already discussed these kinds of issues would be having sex but unfortunately that's not reality.

None of these makes you a liberal.  The issue of abortion is one that crosses party lines, although it is generally seen as Liberals for and conservatives against (but then how would you pigeon hole Arnold Swartzenegger and Bob casey?).

And none of the other issues are even devise between parties.

What I think is you were raised a liberal and so think you are.  But your actual persuasion is still forming, and you are going to be shocked when you finally stand on one side or the other.

None of these makes you a liberal.

Hehe, true true.. I think maybe I just believe I'm a liberal because I've liked the Democratic nominee's 'somewhat more' for a while? (Kerry was bad though... *shudders*)

Womens' rights movement was about:

Establishing your own credit (without your husbands permission).

Consideration for employment, advancement, and pay rate based on your skills, experience, and performance (without involving your employer in your family's care plans/needs).

Access and choice of using birth control is a private matter (also without your husband's permission).

Fair treatment from other people (husbands are not "other people" - they are husbands. I don't treat other men like I treat my husband - he's the man I chose to live my life with - I treat him as "special" and he treats me special).
When a man holds a door open for me I say "Thank you" (I thank my husband too - I appreciate him).

I was taking an elevator with a co-worker - a gentleman held the door and let us get on first - we said thank you.
After he got off she said you don't see that much anymore nope - not many gentlemen left.
I said some darn fool in the 60's told men we didn't want them to be gentleman. Men took us at our word.

Men are not a just sperm bank and a support check. It takes two to have unprotected sex and end up pregnant. The "fault" is 50/50.

I reminded my niece after the "wardrobe malfunction" - - I remember when the goal was "you wouldn't have to show your Boobey to get the job! (sorry for the crudeness / boldness of this statement).

I know - I'm old fashion - I was modern just a few decades ago.

While I hold views that span both sides of middle, I see Liberals as fascists who believe that their ideals should be legislated and forced upon everyone else. I see Conservatives as more inclined towards less government interference in people's lives.

Of course, there are exceptions, these are generalities.

Thank you for the comments and information fiesty_in_ohio. I agree with what you stated, and also wish more men would act more like gentlemen. I try to whenever I can Now even I'm 'almost' told to do so by the Navy.. LoL

Locamama said:

I don't think that anyone would say that they {current conservatives} are for civil rights

I call B.S. on that statement.

Like hell I'm not, or other conservatives aren't, [b]FOR CIVIL RIGHTS.

What most of the conservatives I know may say is that we are not AFFIRMATIVE ACTION or other programs that try to right past wrongs by using those wrongs against others.

I am all for the idea that all men and women were created equally, but I'll be damned if I believe that a Black person or a woman is entitled to special preferences simply because generations long before mine may have wronged that class of people.

Liberals most certainly can not claim to have cornered the market on the idea of supporting civil rights. Hell, it could easily be argued that the only thing that liberals have done in supporting civil rights, especially currently, is to continue to pass laws to take away the rights of some to grant more rights to others. That, and giving just enough money to support causes to make followers of those that can benefit from the handouts.