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February 17, 2006
Question No. 6b
A blog respondent asks:
Why are Republicans who are in the middle often labeled “moderate” while Democrats who are in the middle often labeled “conservative?”
I’ve always disliked such labels and counseled journalists at the Monitor to avoid using them. I also dislike characterizations like long shot, dark horse and frontrunner in news copy during election campaigns.
But they do sneak into print. The reason is not so much that the news media aim to pigeonhole politicians. Rather, it is in the nature of our business to try to inform people in the quickest and most concise way possible. Labels can be convenient shorthand in a complex story.
That said, I’m not sure I buy the premise of the question. Centrists in both parties are often referred to as moderates.
And “liberal,” "moderate” and “conservative” don’t mean what they used to. Unless Goldwater conservatives of 1964 have changed with the times, which many no doubt have, some would be seen as moderate today. The evolving meanings of these labels is another reason to avoid applying them to politicians in print.
Posted by Mike Pride at February 17, 2006 03:36 PM
Comments
I've always thought of "liberal," "moderate,"and "conservative" as measures of the intensity an individual politician employs in addressing the underlying premises of his party's philosophy. In eoncomic matters, I believe we, or, at least, I can say, "Republicans think money; Democrats think people." In social issues, such as abortion, Republicans think hierarchal control; Democrats think human accommodation.
A conservative is unwavering in his belief; a liberal will compromise; and a moderate will wander aroumd the middle of a continuum guided by his personal comfort index.
So much for defining the undefinable.
John Stohrer
Posted by: John Stohrer at February 17, 2006 06:40 PM
Could you enlighten me as to why Neo-Con Republicans refer to themselves as CONSERVATIVES? I don't see them conserving anything, and I consider them the borrow and spend party. Actually, I really don't consider Neo-Cons to be Republicans. I feel that they are a separate gang of mavericks.
Thanks Mike.
Jim
Posted by: Jim at February 24, 2006 02:06 PM
A liberal is a capitalist, like Adam Smith. Someone who believes that means of production should be privately owned and operated for profit without significant government intervention.
A conservative opposes liberalism. Conservatives believe in mercantilism, and they mandate that there should be significant government intervention in most aspects of the economy (and of life in general).
Note: these definitions may be slightly outdated.
One can define 'conservative' and 'liberal' in almost any way. Unfortunately, the plethora of definitions have rendered the terms virtually meaningless. But both 'conservative' and 'liberal' tend to have bad connotations (at least to one half of the population) while 'moderate' generally has good connotations. (People associate 'moderate' with level-headed, mainstream, etc.) Thus, those who consider Lieberman a turncoat to their own cause generally wouldn't label him a 'moderate'.
Posted by: Skoody McGugin at March 4, 2006 08:14 PM
I did a Lexis Nexis (Gen. news, major papers, 6 months) search. I don't really know what explains it, but I thought the results were interesting.
Moderate Democrat - 29 hits
Moderate Republican - 115 hits
A ten year search:
Moderate Democrat - 247 hits
Moderate Republican - 810 hits
Posted by: Skoody McGugin at March 17, 2006 02:30 AM