So DarkSyde interviewed Brent Rasmussen and it contains the following:
DS: Then you must be a card carrying member of the so-called Godless liberal left, yes?
Brent: Hardly. I’m pretty conservative. I was a conservative, registered Republican for the largest part of my voting life. I recently changed to “independent”. I consider myself a “little “l” libertarian.
Brent, I am calling you out. You are not a conservative. I’ve read your blog for a year or so and I’ve nary seen you post anything I would consider remotely conservative.
Now I’m going to anticipate your responses, ’cause you’ll probably never respond anyway.
1. You are a fiscal conservative. Yeah, me to. But I’m a raging liberal. Yes, although the phrase does include the word “conservative”, I think that is a misnomer. I’ve written on this extensively elsewhere but suffice to say, being wise and prudent fiscally is not a trait unique to either the Right or the Left.
2. You prefer less government intervention and regulation. Yeah, me to, and I’m a raging liberal. We absolutely do need some government intervention and regulation. If you are a law and order sort, or believe that food at restaurants should be safe and insider trading monitored, then the whole notion of government intervention and regulation is a debate of degree. Liberals do not prefer more and in many cases prefer less government interference than conservatives.
3. I know you are cool with same-sex couples and such. I suspect you are pro-choice. You probably think that the government should uphold international law and be concerned about the human rights complications of globalization. I know you are a champion of the separation of church and state and you probably think it is a protected free-speech act to burn a flag. I suspect you do not approve of blind ignorance to the mounting evidence for global warming.
I’m sorry to blow your cover, bud, but you are a liberal. That is not a dirty word.
lolife 
Thanks for commenting, Brent! I always try to convince people they are liberals because I think a lot of people who are liberals don’t realize they are liberals because they think it means something it doesn’t really mean. I don’t care if the word we use is the word liberal or not but there is a word for people that believe the kinds of things I enumerated and I think that both you and I and a hell of a lot of people fall into that category.
We all do better when we all do better.
The words of the late great Paul Wellstone.
LikeLike
Heheh… I say tomato, you say tomatoe.
Let’s call the whole thing off. 😉
I like to think that there are really only two types of people – not only in American politics, but on the planet: Those who want to be controlled by others, and those who do not want to be controlled by others. I am the latter. Calling myself a “libertarian” seems to be the easiest way to convey that information. However, I am all for free-market capitalism and fiscal responsibility, which usually means that I am considered a “conservative”.
*shrug*
I dunno, man. I have always considered myself a conservative, even when I broke with the Republican party. I think that the Republicans are usually right on with respect to the economy, but wrong on social issues. Visa-versa for the democrats.
Does that make me a liberal?
I suppose that the word “liberal” has indeed been bastardized into a “bad word”, and that’s too bad.
Good points, though. Thanks for calling me out! 🙂
LikeLike