Conservatives are confused

I mentioned that the definition of "liberal" in U.S. is a bit funny in my last column. This also means that "liberals" in U.S. are often confused and do not have clear understanding of their political compass. We can actually observe that conservatives are confused about their political compass as well. Conservatives in U.S. are generally for a smaller government; this is one of reasons why conservatives in U.S. support tax cut. They generally support individuals and private institutions to handle various tasks that the government currently handles. They also support greater individualism. Greater individualism generally suggests pro-choice; the following is a pretty good definition of individualism.

Individualism in political philosophy

In political philosophy, the individualist theory of government holds that the state should take a merely defensive role by protecting the liberty of each individual to act as he wishes as long he does not infringe on the same liberty of another. This contrasts with collectivist political theories where, rather than leaving the individual to pursue his own ends, the state ensures that the individual serves the interests of society when taken as a whole. It also contrasts with fascism, where the individual is required to serve the interests of the state. The term has also been used to describe "individual initiative" and "freedom of the individual" in general, perhaps best described by the French term "laissez faire", a verb meaning "to let [the people] do" [for themselves what they know how to do].

In practice, individualism is chiefly concerned with protecting individual autonomy by opposing encroachment by the state. For example, individualists oppose democratic systems unless constitutional protections exist that preserve individual liberty of those in the minority from being diminished by the interests of the majority. These concerns encompass both civil and economic liberties. One typical concern is the concentration of commercial and industrial enterprise in the hands of the state, and the municipality. The principles upon which this opposition is based are mainly two: that popularly-elected representatives are not likely to have the qualifications, or the sense of responsibility, required for dealing with the multitudinous enterprises, and the large sums of public money involved in civic administration; and that the "health of the state" depends upon the exertions of individuals for their personal benefit (who, "like cells", are the containers of the life of the body).

Individualism is, however, to be distinguished from egoism. "Egoists" promote their own advantage and hold that the justification of any benevolence to other people must be found in self-interest. An individualist may be a conscientious "altruist": he is by no means hostile to, or aloof from society (any more than the collectivist is necessarily hostile to the individual), but he is opposed to interference with individual liberty, wherever it comes from; and as far as it can be avoided. Many individuals seek to free every single person from collective control. However, there are also many individualists that have no such intentions. These individualists are more likely (though by no means is this universal) to believe in cultural relativism.

The individualist sees society as "a large number of individuals working together" to improve their individual and collective welfare. The single person is not just a member of a greater unity. In fact, the single individual is seen as "the ultimate unity", and society is nothing more than a composition of these "individuals". The "state" is an organized form of society, which "ensures the individual's freedom" by law (under the protections of a republic). Thus, individualist policy tends to approve laws that protect, or otherwise enhance the liberties of the individual citizen, but rejects laws that subordinate the individual to the collective.

Source - WikiPedia

Pro-choice certainly supports to be gay and lesbian. Pro-choice should support gay marriage (as a choice not as an institution that allows the married couple to get various protections and benefits from the government) as well. However, many conservatives in U.S. who are supposedly for pro-choice generally oppose gay marriage. There is another funny thing about conservatives in U.S. They are supposedly for greater individualism; they are primarily concerned about their own lives and not others in principle. However, many conservatives in U.S. support kind of foreign policies that US fight a war against a foreign nation; they support a great intervention of foreign politics. Very strange. Are so many Americans confused about their political compass or they are simply confused about the meaning of liberal and the meaning of conservative?