In the political world, can anyone tell me the difference between a liberal and a conservative ?

Liberals believe that government is the solution to most things. Anytime a budget is cut, there are protests. As an example, the governor of Massachusetts has been forced to make cuts. There is an uproar here because schools laid off teachers, that a satellite office benefitting single mothers on welfare is closing, that unemployment benefits are not being extended. Liberals don't understand that government can't pay for everything. They cry foul when their benefits are reduced or cut.

Conservatives believe that LESS government is the solution, that individuals and businesses, if left alone, would solve many of society's ills. They believe that if the economy were strong, that if more people were able to obtain and maintain a job, that there would be less of a need for welfare, shelters, and unemployment. Conservatives point to historical tax revenue data that demonstrates how every time taxes were LOWERED, tax revenue INCREASED. As a result, the government has more money to help those in need while at the same time there are fewer people in need.

So, the same goal, just two different ways of achieving this goal.

One thing that the media in Massachusetts totally ignores, unfortunately, is politicians refuse to cut back THEIR salaries. They refuse to trim their office budgets, reduce their staff, and reduce their expenses. So, many people are rightfully complaining about cuts all while there is so much waste in government. This is a difference between liberals and conservatives - conservatives actually mention government waste. Unfortunately, they never really change anything, which makes conservatives more hypocritical in general.

Back to the Massachusetts example. The solution by the Democrats (liberals) who control the state was to raise taxes. (Conservatives, on the other hand would've lowered taxes and enacted laws to benefit "big business.") Unfortunately, instead of more tax revenue, there was significantly less than expected. None are questioning why there's such a huge shortfall in tax revenue. Their reason is simply because the economy is in a recession due to the Bush policies. And so, most people resign themselves to complain about all the cuts, but continue to vote in the same people year after year

So that's one area where conservatives and liberals differ. There are many more issues that can be discussed. As a start, simply google "difference conservative liberal" and you'll find many articles, all with their own spin.

Conservatives exploits the poor.

Liberals exploits the Conservatives.

If you are speaking of liberals and conservatives in our government neither of them want to help the poor most of them are self serving. They both sell silly ideas to the most uneducated group of people to buy an easy vote. It is easier to govern an uneducated country then an educated country. You have Liberals selling free money so you don’t have to work or better yourself and Conservatives selling free market and tell them “One day you are going to be rich like me”. Liberals use tax dollars to keep people poor by giving them money rather then investing in people to take care of themselves and Conservatives believe in doing nothing at all for the poor (they don’t pay taxes so they shouldn’t get anything). If we just invested in education for poor areas and health, a lot less people would be waiting for hand outs. Helping your fellow man isn’t only a good thing to do but it is in the best interest of our country, because the Poor’s problems will soon become our problems.

The only different is that at least the conservative get the money from their paycheck just to help the poor while the liberal don't, they just use your taxes to help the poor and needly.