Your post reminds me of the constant claxon going off whenever I see TB-vs-the-people on some political rant in this place.

Why is it assumed that a person is either one or the other. Left or Right. Conservative or Liberal.

Are we to assume that one political ethos is right for everything, and that every other political ethos is wrong.

That's not only narrow minded, it's also dangerous.

In the UK, I would be considered a Conservative. I've voted Tory at every chance. I have not and would not vote for the Labour or Lib Dem's here. But do I subscribe to TB's Conservative hatred of nationalised healthcare? Hell no. Do I thing the death penalty is good (no) and abortion should be illegal (no). Should gay people be allowed to marry (yes) and do we require laws to stop the financial industry screwing us all over (yes). Sometimes personal freedoms (like enjoying a meal without getting cancer from the next table) require the limitation of personal freedoms. Yet sometimes, government and policy clearly exist for the purpose of keeping civil servants busy (note the massively complex 'tax credit' scheme in the UK - it's an utter nonsense)

I see each issue on its own, make my own judgement of how things should be done, and vote for the party that ticks the most boxes. To be fair, UK politics occupy about a 1 inch span slightly left of centre of the US 5 mile wide stretch but the point remains the same. to stand with both feet at one end of the spectrum is moronic.

There are places for big government, and places for small government. There are times when one needs to be, literally, conservative, and times when one, literally, needs to be more liberal.

People who sit on one side of that fence demanding that the world is going to hell in a handbasket because of those 'damn whiney liberals' or 'evil capitalist GOP goons'..... they're just wrong. Totally and utterly wrong.