When it comes to politics, I think there are essentially four types of people:

[daedalus_dude]

First there are those that, until proven otherwise, will assume that "the establishment" or "the authorities" are largely making the right decisions and working in everyones best interest. Those one could call "conservatives".

Then there are those that will assume that the authorities are not working well, until proven otherwise. Those, I think, one could call "sceptics" or "liberals".

Then you have those who are totally disinterested in what the authorities are doing. They are the "hedonists" or "isolationists". They only care about what is right before their eyes. They hardly have an opinion on anything broader. Under good economic conditions, these people often lead very happy lives.

Last you have those who hold certain opinions, and will cling to them no matter how much evidence shows that they are wrong. Those one could call "idiots".

I think the problems that we face largely stem from the disproportionate influence that the last group has.

And I think that today, the democratic party largely covers both of what one generally understands as "liberals" and "conservatives" (even here on DU we have, by standards of other countries, a spectrum of views that range from totally liberal to totally conservative), while the republican party and the american "right wing" is simply defunct and has passed beyond any type of reason.

[Dinger]

1. Very Astute Observation

Welcome to DU

[imdjh]

2. Then you have folks who aren't happy unless everyone else is miserable.

They come in right wing and left wing as well. The right wing version are the ones who think the country is going to hell in a handbasket, they claim to love their country but the list of everything they "are concerned about (hate)" is so long one has to wonder what is left to love. The left wing version are the ones who claim to love their country, but the list of everything they "are concerned about (hate)" is so long one has to wonder what is left to love.

[Fleet]

3. WTF FTW!

So if your politically active either you're liberal, conservative, or an idiot?

[zbdent]

4. rumors of the demise of the Republican party are greatly exaggerated ...

The corporate, Mainstream Media is the lightning bolt which will re-animate the "corpse", with Rush Frankenbaugh at the controls ...

[rucky]

5. You nailed the "idiots", but I think there's a deeper dimension...

to the liberals/conservatives distinction:

That's been tracked a few ways on an x/y scale - with the other axis being the libertarian/authoritarian continuum.

Libertarians believe that a free society can function with minimal government. There are libertarian conservatives (i got mine - screw you), and libertarian liberals (the man is keeping us down!)\

Authoritarians believe that a free society requires a strong central government. There are conservative authoritarians (fascists), and liberal authoritarians (Hugo Chavez).

So the liberal/conservative continuum is more based on what you believe to be the essential role of government: are they there primarily for defense & industry, or designed to provide a safety net & basic services for its citizens?