Conservatives are individualists, Liberals are collectivists. Conservatives have their own lives, and families to take care of, and see government as just a necessary evil. Liberals see government as the solution for all of the world's problems and they center their lives around it.
Hi df
The other prefer to be called progressive socialists nowadays.
Old fashioned liberals, you could say, were for the little guy. For example, to protect the consumer from unfair trade practices. But, this was mostly within the democratic capitalist system. Think Harry Truman. Also, those guys were anti-communist. Those were kind of the happy days in America, when we shared most values across the two parties.
Excellently stated compare and contrast. Collectivism is yucky—and more than that, it’s deadly.
How did it manage to thrive in a constitutional republic? Americans clearly left their guard down for what, maybe three or four generations?
Unfortunately however, that is not the most accurate description of the two main voting blocks in this country anymore. Conservatism is unfortunately being replaced by populists and nationalists, and liberalism is being replaced by racists and criminals, with the bulk both parties wanting fascist rule by their chosen leader.
A nationalist fascist result will resemble China. A criminal fascist result will resemble Russia. And America, home of the free and the brave, will be gone.