4.7 Ideologies of Political Parties

• Liberal: generally favors a more active national government to promote equality and provide services, more economic regulation, and protections for individual choice on many social issues. Liberals often describe their goals as fairness, expanding opportunity and protecting vulnerable groups.
• Conservative: generally favors a smaller national government, lower taxes, less economic regulation, a strong national defense, and protecting traditional values and institutions. Conservatives often describe their goals as individual responsibility, economic freedom and preserving what works.
• Libertarian: favors minimal government in both economic and social life, emphasizing individual liberty, free markets and voluntary exchange.
• Moderate: holds a mix of views or positions between the others. Many Americans fall here.

A party platform is a formal statement of a party's principles and policy goals, adopted at its national convention every four years. Each position is a plank. Platforms help voters understand where parties stand and give activists a voice, though candidates don't always follow every plank.

In recent decades, the parties have become more ideologically sorted: most liberals identify as Democrats and most conservatives as Republicans. In earlier eras, each party had large liberal and conservative wings.

These are general tendencies. Each party contains members who break from its typical positions, and the parties' stances on some issues, such as trade and foreign policy, have shifted over time.

Ideological differences affect what each party does when it holds power: which bills it prioritizes, whom it appoints to courts and agencies, and how it uses the budget. When the parties are far apart (polarization, 2.3), compromise is harder, and divided government is more likely to lead to gridlock.