Political labels can be tricky

Are you conservative, moderate or liberal? Or are you traditional, neocon or libertarian? Republican, Democrat or Independent? Do you consider yourself a Progressive? Perhaps you are some of these some of the time, but not all of them all of the time. Whatever the case, political labels can be tricky.

Certain labels mean one thing in one part of the country and another in another part of the country. Governor Bill Ritter presides over the "moderate" state of Colorado, but is having difficulty governing from the center. (Perhaps we should add "centrist" to the label list above.) Ritter ran as a pro-business Democrat. How many people do you know who would say that term is an oxymoron?

City-Data.com is a Web site that gives people the opportunity to discuss just about everything related to places in the United State. Postings in the "Most conservative states, cities" section reveal how the label issue can be defined in many ways.

The Gallup organization often asks respondents about their political ideology, and then publishes a state ranking. In 2009 people who identified themselves as conservative outnumbered those who identifies themselves as liberal in every state, but not in Washington, D.C.

By the way, the Gallup survey revealed the one state that is more conservative than Mississippi? Can you name it?

Click here for the answer.


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