Every once in a while I try to assess my political ideology and match it up to what's happening in Washington.

For the most part, I guess, I'm conservative. (I bet that's a big shock for regular readers of this column, eh?)

But seriously, anymore, I don't think conservatives know what conservatives are.

And the same thing is happening with liberals.

Conservatives, traditionally, are known for being proponents of a smaller federal government. They think people should be allowed to take care of themselves whenever possible. They favor lower taxes because they think people should keep more of what they earn.

Liberals, traditionally, are proponents of a more comprehensive kind of government. They figure government should take care of people. They favor a redistribution of wealth through taxation because taking care of the least fortunate Americans is good for the whole nation.

Conservatives want more decisions on policies and programs left up to the states.

Liberals aren't concerned as much about states' rights.

Conservatives are more hawkish when it comes to war.

Liberals are more peaceful.

Lately, I'm having a tough time with politicians on both sides of the aisle. They're not being very true to their ideologies.

Back in January, W signed a bill into law that doesn't seem very conservative to me.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a rather sweeping piece of legislation aimed at making life better for kids in the United States.

I love kids. They are our future. But I, as a conservative, am not sure the federal government is the proper entity to ensure a happy life for kids.

Nonetheless, legions of alleged conservatives, including W himself, signed on happily.

Here's a quick summary - and yes, this is quick because the bill is massive - 1,200 pages and will cost around $22.5 billion.

Title I. Every Child Needs a Healthy Start, will create a new children's health insurance program, similar to Medicare for the elderly, so that, combined with Medicaid, CHIP and employment based coverage, nearly all families will have guaranteed sources of coverage for their uninsured children.

Title II. Parenting - Supporting Children's Healthy Development, will offer parents help in their parenting roles and also respond to their needs for basic supports to enable them to spend time with their children. The bill will promote state and local parenting support and education programs to assist parents.

Title III. Every Child Needs a Head Start, will expand early childhood development programs, provide access to pre-kindergarten to families who want to participate, fully fund child care, fully fund Head Start for 3- and 4-year-olds and improve parental access and choice among child care providers.

Title IV. Tax Relief for Low-Wage Working Families, will increase the current $500 per child tax credit to $1,000 per child. The Act will make it refundable for all families with little or no federal income tax liability, an important anti-poverty measure.

Title V. Every Child Needs a Fair Start requires caseworkers to be trained and knowledgeable about community resources to help families receive the supports for which they are eligible.

Title VI. Children's Nutrition - Getting Enough to Eat, will expand the Child and Adult Care Food Program to more preschool children and toddlers. It will increase the number of after-school programs providing snacks to youth as well as providing dinner in some cases.

Title VII. Having a Safe, Affordable Place to Live, will provide 1 million new Section 8 vouchers over the next 10 years, repair and rehab public housing for families with children and increase grants to states to expand the supply of affordable housing.

Title VIII. Every Child Needs a Safe Start, will extend federal support for services to children and their parents who come to the attention of the child welfare system to help them prevent problems from re-occurring and to help reunify children safely with their families.

Title IX. Successful Transitions to Adulthood - Youth Development, will provide increased funding to support after-school and youth development programs.

Title X. Every Child Needs a Safe Start - Juvenile Justice, will provide increased funding for delinquency prevention programs, create incentives to states to provide sufficient treatment and after-care services for delinquent youth and prohibit children from being detained with adults under any circumstances.

Title XI. Every Child Needs a Safe Start - Gun Safety, will close existing loopholes in our nation's gun laws to ensure that only law-abiding citizens can legally purchase a gun. The measure will require mandatory safety locks with the sale of handguns, ban the importation of large capacity ammunition clips capable of firing more than 10 rounds, ban the possession of assault weapons by juveniles, and ban the possession of handguns by individuals under 21 years of age.

Title XII. Every Child Needs the Support of the Entire Community, will direct the Secretary of HHS to establish a blue-ribbon commission to identify and highlight family-friendly practices that the private sector and employers can promote. In addition, the measure will strengthen national data collection and dissemination activities so that local communities can better assess the needs of children and families.

The act also will provide funding to help local school districts recruit, train and hire additional teachers. New incentives will be offered to improve teacher performance, allow student loan forgiveness for aspiring teachers, expand alternative certification procedures and promote professional development. Accountability for state and local education agencies will be increased with clear performance benchmarks. The bill will include new tax incentives for school construction and modernization as well as direct grant assistance to communities. A new initiative is included to expand books in the homes of low-income families with young children.

OK, now to me, that sounds like some serious social engineering. Of course none of it sounds bad. Quite the contrary, it all sounds good. But is this the role of the limited federal government our founders intended?

And while conservatives are passing huge social programs, Democrats are signing onto a war with Iraq. Very strange.

Sad part is, I know a certain part of it has more to do with politics than policy.

The conservatives want to appear like they care.

The liberals want to get this Iraq thing off the front page. They know W shines when it comes fighting terror. They need to get past Iraq so they can try to make W look bad on domestic issues.

Maybe I'm too jaded and skeptical, but I wonder just who and what politicians are really concerned about. Sometimes I think it's all about getting re-elected and staying in power.

There's this simplistic definition of U.S. political ideology that gets tossed around.

Perhaps you've heard it:

The Democrats look out for the average guy. The Republicans look out for the rich guy.

Lately, seems to me, politicians are only looking out for themselves. [[In-content Ad]]