How to distinguish

A conservative encourages personal responsibility come what may. For example, public service announcements encourage "designated drivers" for those who drink to excess and become driver "impaired." The liberal would assist and excuse the camaraderie perhaps on a repetitive basis as part of liberal compassion and tolerance. The conservative would normally shun bars and drunks, discourage destructive behavior and certainly not abet the "impaired driver" beyond a singular assist.

A conservative suspects an agenda (perpetrated lie) when empirical evidence contradicts a claim. For example, a report from the Agriculture Department claims that 1/8 of Americans struggle to feed themselves on a regular basis and 700,000 children find themselves hungry daily. Yet claims of an obesity epidemic run rampant through the media, scientific studies and health sources, both governmental and private. The two phenomena could be mutually exclusive or inclusive but merely by looking around at the empirical evidence of body masses, the only conclusion to be reached is that only smokers deliberately remain rail thin.

A conservative questions motives when power, money and loyal voters can be achieved by a political move. For example, liberal Democrats propose a bailout of Detroit auto makers. Why? The gains are obvious - the political power of Democrat voters and union voters in Michigan. The losses to taxpayers are also obvious, because non-Michigan residents must pay for the rescue of failed companies. A conservative believes that failure is part of the long term success process; a liberal thinks as an elitist who knows that any entity capable of delivering voting power is too big to fail.

A conservative rejects needless extravagance. For example, no matter the hype or claim of a saving of 50%, when Omaha Steaks advertises approximately 1 lb. of prime steak plus inexpensive fillers for $60.00, it’s NO BARGAIN. A liberal would repeatedly justify this "NO BARGAIN" as an investment because he or she is worth it regardless of present or future expense. A conservative may throw his or her budget into the wind for a one time blowback of obscene indulgence, but he or she could never justify repeated, unreasonable gouges into a common sense budget plan for future solvency based upon self-reliance. Unless, of course, the conservative can warble like a Streisand or a Pavarotti in which case she or he is compelled to the behavior of a filthy rich capitalist spreading wealth in support of a free market business like Omaha Steaks. Bon Appetit.