most self identified political labels have very little meaning

Hi,

First off, thank you for posting an interesting debate topic.

I will argue that in fact political labels do hold important meaning, and that there are important differences in how ideologies lead people to think and act.

Let me first rephrase your argument. Your thesis is that political labels are arbitrary group distinctions (like cheering for one sports team versus another). You offer two reasons why you think this is the case.

1) There is probably widespread consensus on most issues that conservatives and liberals appear to be arguing about.
2) Abstract differences may exist between ideologies but people will tend to agree on concrete policy recommendations

Both of these points are not supported by the evidence. Let us take the US as a test case. In this country, the two dominant ideologies are liberalism and conservatism. These can be broken down further into sub groups but let us stay on a simpler level of analysis for the moment.

First, American liberals and conservatives do differ on many issues. For example, take a poll from the Pew Research Center (1), liberals strongly prefer ethnic diversity (76%), few conservatives do (20%). On separation of church and state, liberals are almost twice as likely as conservatives to have a problem with violations of this separation (2). Similar polls can show fundamental differences on other major issues such as the role of the military or on how important it is to be patriotic.

This leads to your second point. Actually, it is relatively clear to any follower of politics that substantial differences exist on concrete policy proposals made by liberals and conservatives. There is not just disagreement on abstract ideals. Most conservatives are for example quite clear in their desire for lower taxes and government spending. These are consistently challenged by liberals across multiple domains.

In sum, while I commend your desire to challenge political labels, there is plenty of evidence that people of different political beliefs differ both in their position on key issues and in what concrete policies they support in government.

1- http://atheism.about.com...

2- http://www.pbs.org...

Unfortunately, my opponent has forfeited his round. I hope he will return for the next round. As such, I will leave this round blank out of good sportsmanship.

Hi,

To restate my argument, political labels matter in that they lead to

1) Different positions on abstract issues
2) Different preferences for concrete policies

To point 1, you appear to offer little resistance. You seem to have conceded that conservatives and liberals do hold different beliefs when it comes to more abstract topics.

Against my point 2, you initially claim that there is substantial agreement on concrete policies between liberals and conservatives. However, in the very next paragraph, you backtrack and concede that there would be disagreement on some issues. Given this backtracking, t would appear that you have offered little response to my position and your own argument in favor of your position remains unclear.

You have offered no reason to support the belief that political labels are meaningless. In fact, you concede that they do have at least some meaning in your very last sentence of the final round.

Thank you for your time.