Ideology is about ideas; politics is about winning elections. - Mike Rosen

Conservatives are concerned about the production of wealth. Liberals are concerned about the redistribution of it.

One of the hackneyed liberal complaints goes something like this: 'Bush is the first president in history to cut taxes during a war.' Nonsense. Bush didn’t cut taxes; he cut tax rates across the board - on income, dividends and capital gains. And that’s precisely why tax revenues have soared. When a department store wants to make more money, it doesn’t raise its prices, it cuts them and announces a big sale. If you want more work and investment, you hold a sale on economic activity by cutting tax rates, thereby reducing the cost of productive activity and increasing the prospect of after-tax returns on work and investment.

Conservatives believe in peace through strength. Liberals believe in peace through cooperation and good will.