Conservative Perception of Liberals

[Andrew Fletcher]

I'd like to believe that I have some understanding of conservative ideology. I'm very liberal, but I recognize why people hold differing political beliefs from my own. I don't think conservatives are stupid, irrational, or whatever. I think you're totally wrong, but only because I think I have a firm grasp on the basic ideas of left and right. That's why a reccent interaction in one of my politics classes was very puzzling.

This conservative kid was complaining about Bush and how much money he is spending on relief and other things. He said that he didn't understand why liberals didn't like Bush-- after all, he was increasing government spending and that's what we like.

At first, I thought this was a joke. But it wasn't. His perception of liberals is that we just want to increase government spending for whatever reason. I was blown away.

Do other conservatives have similar perceptions about the ideology of liberals? If so, why?