What Is To Be Done?

Steve Benen has a thoughtful post over at The Washington Monthly called, Wanted: More American Liberals. It does a good job of laying out where we are.

A new Gallup poll says 41 percent of those asked described themselves as conservative, compared to 21 percent describing themselves as liberal.

A significant takeaway quote from Benen's post:

It’s important to keep some caveats in mind when looking at results like these. For one thing, the public’s understanding of what these words actually mean varies considerably, and not everyone who considers themselves “conservative” is on the same page as, say, Jim DeMint. For another, ideological identification often doesn’t match up well with policy positions.

And that is really true. Conservative politicians want to end Medicare and Social Security, yet I'd guess that most people who call themselves conservative would like to preserve both programs. Most people who call themselves conservative probably don't like polluted air and rivers, yet conservative politicians promote policies that guarantee both. It goes on and on.

On the other hand, it would be much better for elections if people had conservative policy ideas and called themselves liberals.