That was kind of my point...

That's the rub, liberals think society should take care of everybody and conservatives (should) think people should have personal responsibility.

You thought you were the first one to tell him smoking is bad?

[EDIT]

bambam edited, trying to avoid looking foolish.

Then we'll perish while saying "What have you done for me lately?"

At least they scrounged their own nuts and berries when they got hungry enough.

...and when they ran out of people to invade/steal from.

Ewwwwwwwww...

Huh? These words seem to change meaning every time I let my mind wander... I would have said that liberals think people should have the liberty - and thus not be too constrained by society - and that conservatives just think that any changes to society - laws, conventions, and so on - should happen slowly (or not at all). Conservatives want to conserve the old ways. Those two values, liberal and conservative, aren't even in conflict in a society that is already liberal.

Now, that's my understanding of the words. Could someone explain to me why people (particularly Americans) often seem to mean something completely different and how such different meaning are justified?

In Australia, one of the two main political parties is called the Liberal party, and they are usually described as being a conservative party. They seem to be liberal about some issues and not others (and some people within the party complain that the party isn't liberal enough). So with that in mind I can see how calling someone a Liberal is different to calling them a liberal; but the US doesn't have that particular problem...

I'm not sure the "why" is important, unless you are just curious.

Conservative vs liberal in the USA generally has to do with government spending on social programs. e.g., Somebody who is for government healthcare would be called a liberal. Being branded as "liberal" is traditionally conservative rhetoric. Most "liberals" wouldn't go about calling themselves liberal because of its negative connotations.

The same people who call themselves conservatives are generally for big spending on military, so it's really just a misnomer designed to make one sound good to the public. Conservatives are also usually people who are anti-marijuana, anti-same sex marrage, etc.

The words that political parties use to describe themselves mean nothing.
Except of course when they first start out.

A totally fresh party picks words that actually describe what they're about. But as the years pass, the party changes into greedy coward bastards but they don't change how they describe themselves.