Politicians are a bad lot, generally. But there is a crucial difference between conservative and liberal politicians.
That difference lies in the reason they seek office.
Liberals go into politics for power and money. They have a basic urge to control other people.
Liberals (also called progressive, a euphemism used by liberals, and socialists, a more accurate term favored by conservatives) believe it is the government's role to "protect" people from business and to redistribute wealth from those who have earned it to those who have not.
If this encroaches upon individual freedom and invades the sanctity of private property and the law of contract, so be it.
Conservatives, however, run for office to stop this from happening.
The anomaly is that conservative voters at home elect conservatives to limit government and spending and then demand that they bring home the bacon. They adopt the attitude that the money is going to be wasted somewhere, so it might as well be on them.
The best conservative politicians don't turn into hall monitors and they are not shy about saying "no." They run for office, stick to their guns if elected, and return home with honor intact if ungrateful voters turn them out after one term.
