Well, I guess there are several flavors of conservatives and of liberals and sometimes they get mixed a bit. But for the most part, liberals (Dumbycrats) are much more in favor of guvmint solutions to everything and tend to be less sympathetic to bidness. They also seem to love taxes and fees. Maybe what galls me the most about them is that they always think they are smarter and know what is best for us all.
Republicans should all be conservative, but we know that there are some rats in the woodpile. Anyway, any good Republican should be primarily interested in fiscal responsibility, liberty, personal responsibility, states rights and only as a last resort, intervening in peoples personal foibles. Of course this is a gross simplification, but you know what I mean.
I don't think third parties are normally a good thing, because they tend to get in the way of settling just where the country is on the big issues that are often the subject of political controversy. In countries where there are significant multiple political parties, they have a heck of a time ever reaching a consensus and getting anything done. Getting nothing done can sometimes be the best thing, but there really are some things that have to get done and it's best to to have a majority and not just a plurality deciding the big things. As in sports (football, baseball, etc.), you have two teams competing, not three, four, or five in any given game.
