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To understand what is going on, you must understand the various types of ideologies, the way the Parties function in New York, the realities of the two major parties, and the current mindset of the Tea Party and 9-12 Project movements. Upon understanding these and the spin they each put out, you can then reach a conclusion of where politics are in America today. Due to space constraints, these definitions will be brief.

Ideology Definitions

First let's look at conservatives. The broadest of these is the Ronald Reagan conservatism. This brand believes in individual rights and freedoms, lower taxes, a strong military, smaller government, and has a strong belief in the abilities of Americans and America.

Next you have the Ron Paul Conservatives. These Conservatives have a strong belief in strict adherence to the Constitution and following the rules, whether they are the Constitution, laws, or Party Rules. Those with a more Libertarian vein believe that the government should stay out of social issues altogether. The difficulties in sticking to that view are the laws regarding murder and rape as well as other social issue laws of that nature.

Now let's look at the Pat Robertson conservatives. These conservatives are Christians who have little tolerance for anyone who has beliefs other than theirs. They are generally born again evangelicals whose interests are mainly social in nature.

Now there is cross pollination of conservatives, and some even steer to the left on certain issues. Conservatives usually vote Republican, but will be found in several other parties also.

Second are the moderates. These are simply people who try to work with all sides to find a common ground for an issue or idea. The moderates rarely have ideas of their own and rarely support any party philosophy, although they will run for office in the party that is in the majority in their area.

Liberalism is another simple philosophy to understand. Liberals, like Reagan conservatives, also believe in the rights of individuals, but believe that government should take an active role in guaranteeing and, at times, delivering these rights. Interestingly, the liberal "Rockefeller Republicans" controlled the Republican Party until 1980 and still exercise a great deal of influence in the Republican Party in some states (mainly the northeast). The majority of liberals are lodged nationally in the Democratic Party.

Finally there is socialism. Socialism is historically the response of the people to hereditary aristocracy in Europe. Socialism is in its basic form an economic model that focuses on the needs of society as a whole rather than on the individual. As such, it is the anti-thesis of capitalism.

Marxist can be simply defined as a "pre-communist" phase of government. In Wikipedia it states "In order to overcome the fetters of private property the working class must seize political power internationally through a social revolution and expropriate the capitalist classes around the world and place the productive capacities of society into collective ownership. Upon this material foundation classes would be abolished and the material basis for all forms of inequality between humankind would dissolve."

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