Why do people like lable themsevles as liberal or conservative?

I mean alot of people like to have opinions about things even if things dont apply to them.Dose being a Churhgoer make you a conservative?Dose being a Democrate make you a liberal?Why do people like lable themsevles as liberal or conservative?
You're right, Label Jars, Not People!Why do people like lable themsevles as liberal or conservative?
Not necessarily... However basic beliefs can put one on one side or the other. And, in general, Democrats lean to the left (these days some to the left of Stalin) It is to general to label ';Churchgoers'; as Conservative, as there are those that attend church that are *very* liberal... however those that are ';fundamentalist'; are usually Conservative in other ways also. As to Labeling oneself, what is wrong with that? One must stand for something or be labeled wishy washy...
Liberal and conservative are philosophies -- and fairly broad ones at that. Most who call themselves that happen to believe in at least the core of the philosophy, actively enough to want to defend those beliefs.





Church is a matter of religious belief -- and independent of politics. Someone can be very faithful without needing to impose that faith on others.





As for the Democratic party -- they stopped supporting the liberal agenda many years ago -- but unlike the Republicans, at least they are not directly opposed to the liberal agenda -- thus as a ';lesser of two evils';, many liberals would rather have a Democrat who at least won't get in their way, as opposed to a Republican who directly opposes them.
people will label themselves liberal because they don't wish people to think they are conservative and conservatives will label themselves conservatives because they don't wish people to think they are liberal
your core of beliefs.
yes being a Democrat makes you a liberal. Democrats believe in liberal ideology.
i do not label myself as ';liberal.'; i feel that gives credence to right-wingers control of the language of popular discourse.





i am a leftist.





that is a bad word too, but much more accurate.





i say it proudly.
Yes, labels tend to put people in a box, whereas they may hold a number of differing opinions on both sides of the spectrum.


As to being a socialist capitalist, there's not much of a conundrum there. I consider myself one, as do many people. Capitalism with a human face is another name.
The idea of liberalism and conservatism being opposed is ridiculous! It's perfectly possible to be a liberal conservative or a conservative liberal. You can't, however, be a socialist capitalist.
I have heard two explanations which makes sense to me, but neither seems to answer it fully:





[1] Liberals focus on what's wrong with the world and worry about how to fix it. Conservatives focus on what's right with the world and worry about how to preserve it.





[2] Liberals believe in cooperation. Conservatives believe in competition. Liberals believe in helping people who are down. Conservatives believe that helping people just encourages them to stay down.





If anyone tries to tell you that the difference is Liberals want the government to spend lots of money and conservatives want the government to spend smaller amounts of money, don't believe them. History has shown that the government spends more money when conservatives are in control.