According to the Gallup Poll, 40% of Americans identify themselves as Conservative, 20% as Liberals, and 36% as moderates. Those numbers would give credence to the Republicans stating that America is a Center-Right country.
According to Gallup Democrats or Democratic-leaning, independents are 46% of the electorate while Republicans or Republican-leaning independents are 43% of the electorate. Over at least the last 30 years, Democrats have been considered the Liberal Party (the Left) while the Republicans have been considered the Conservative party (the Right). Given their respective platforms that is true even though within the parties themselves there Liberal Republicans as well as Conservative Democrats and every permutation in between.
The reality is America is at best a Center-Left country irrespective of those who identify themselves as Conservative. Calling oneself a Conservative does not make it so. By definition, conservatives want much less government than we currently have. They want private control of most services in our lives sans the military. Most self-identified Conservative are in fact those who themselves depend on many of the country’s social services including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, & unemployment compensation.
When many in the Tea Party, the newest disguise for the Conservative movement were questioned, it turned out many in fact are dependent on a plethora of government services. This is completely in sync with a Washington Post, Henry J Kaiser Foundation, and Harvard University study of Americans that found that 61% wanted more government in protecting the environment while 23% wanted the same amount. Additionally, 52% wanted more government in ensuring access to healthcare, and 15% wanted the same amount. The majority wanted the same amount of government in reducing poverty, setting educational standards, regulating Wall Street, fighting terrorism and much more. 74% wanted Medicare, 77% wanted Social Security, and 71% wanted federal aid to public schools.
It is evident that self-identified Conservatives do not know the real definition of Conservatism. As such using their self-identified definition as Conservative cannot be taken at face value. Real Conservative candidates have enabled this self-delusion of the masses to secure the vote of the self-identified Conservatives that ultimately materially affect their economic well-being.
America is a Center-Left country irrespective of statements by those who would want to institute policies that are definitely not beneficial to the middle-class. For the last 30 years, most of our policies were far Right or Center Right policies. Its effect on the wealth, income, and employment of the middle-class has been devastating. It has caused the outsourcing of our manufacturing base. It has pilfered the middle-class by transferring an inordinate amount of wealth to the top 2%. Most importantly it has endangered our national security by making us more dependent on others and less able to be a self-sufficient nation.
VOTE YOUR FAMILY’S, YOUR FINANCIAL, AND YOUR COUNTRIES INTEREST.