Conservative?...Liberal?

I've grown up in a mostly "conservative" family that tends to vote Republican and I used to just kinda follow along, but in the last few years I've done some changing. I may still be registered Republican, but in this last election I didn't vote a straight Republican ticket. I'm not so certain that the GOP is all that "conservative" right now. In fact, I don't think either of the two big political parties have claim to any pure economic philosophy. Republicans aren't always fiscal conservatives and Democrats aren't always just taxing and spending. It seems that there is a lot of vitriol employed by both parties to demonize each other and it doesn't always reflect the truth. Often the truth is distorted and arguments are oversimplified in order to sway people who don't really understand public policy and economics.