Here's a quick quiz: How would you describe the fundamental difference between modern liberals (progressives) and modern conservatives?
Perhaps one way to answer this is to note how each group would answer another question:
Should government be empowered to regulate our lives to maximize the common good or should it be limited to protecting citizens from encroachments upon their basic freedoms?
Which of these two views did you think our Founders had in mind?
Progressives believe the role of government is to use its power to ensure that the greatest good is done for the greatest number of people. They hold that the greatest benefit is realized when everyone has a roughly equal share of the world's resources and that it is the role of government to bring this about, even if that means taking from those who have and giving to those who don't. To progressives, opposition to this view is a sign of greed and selfishness.
Conservatives maintain that that is not at all what our Founders intended. The men who established this nation, and most of those who followed them, believed that the purpose of the government they established was to guarantee the freedoms articulated in the Declaration of Independence and especially the Bill of Rights, and to protect these from the encroachments of all who would take them away, both foreign and domestic. The progressive view, most conservatives would argue, leads ultimately to tyranny.
Chances are if you hold to the first view you're a Democrat and if you hold to the second you're a Republican.
Right now, the first view is prevailing.
RLC