Conservative vs. Liberal

Do you ever wonder why the terms "liberal" and "conservative" are applied to political parties as a whole? If the terms are to be applied accurately, they should be used to tag an individual's beliefs. Or, if we want to get really specific, we could label individual votes or policy stances as conservative or liberal. There are plenty of elected men and women who reside on one side of the aisle or the other, yet from time to time vote in a way that goes against their stated party's ideology. John McCain, for instance, supports embryonic stem cell research and amnesty for illegal immigrants, but he's part of the Republican (conservative) party and is now the obvious selection for presidential candidate. Now, I don't believe that to be a member of a party you need to agree with every position on the party platform. But if an elected official is enough of a party rogue than I believe they need to go independent. I really think they should. This is where the 2-party system really breaks down. We're so stuck with the idea that we need to have two parties that we have major power brokers within these parties throwing around ideas that their consituents disagree with. The same goes for the Democratic (liberal) party. I know alot of individuals who agree with some of the Democrat's social policies (or amended versions of them) like reformed welfare for the needy, unemployed, etc but disagree with Dem's ethical stances on abortion, embryonic research, etc. For those persons who really wrangle with wanting to improve education, stop public support for abortion, offer a humane yet legal option for immigrants, fix the taxing system, etc...where do we go? This is why I'm decrying the liberal and conservative tags. I don't think that many people can be labeled a conservative or liberal without overlooking issues that fall outside those lines.