I would like to make a general statement here. Real life is not like mathematics -- few words have commonly agreed on meanings. And even if they do -- few seem to disagree when well-defined terms are misused. And what's more, in real life there's a competition going on -- a competition with words, for power, with rhetorics, for persuasion. Thus if someone uses the word liberal or conservative as a slur, you would be at fault to take that slur seriously.
What I understand as associated with these two words (in the positive sense, I'll leave the slurs for someone else):
A liberal is someone who tries to keep an open mind, and find the best solutions for problems, regardless of common beliefs and trusty traditions.
A conservative is someone who, before changing things, checks the existing ways of doing things. I'm not a conservative in the "slurry" sense, but there are advantages of this position. Like biological systems, what we have as status quo has often evolved into a "best possible" situation.
I would also like to know why conservatives hate liberals so much.
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Didn't remember how intense love could be... Thank you B.
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