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Terms 'liberal' and 'conservative' have lost all meaning

The Texas Tribune published a "partisanship" ranking of Texas House members, ranking them 1-150 from the most "liberal" to the most "conservative." In response, Paul Burka posted about the methodology behind creating the list, and I left this observation in the comments:?Liberal? and ?conservative? are both terms that have lost all meaning, or rather their meanings today derive purely from the mind of the beholder.Is it ?liberal? or ?conservative? for government to mandate purchasing private insurance? In Washington, the suggestion got Barack Obama labeled a ?socialist,? but when we do the same thing for auto insurance it?s considered ?tuff on crime? conservatism.Both Leo Berman and the building trades unions want immigration limits enforced, does that make it a liberal or conservative policy?These ideological distinctions were coined to describe disputes 200+ years ago...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on July 19, 2010 (boomark / email).