Political orientation (summary)

I have difficulty in immediately grasping what views a person holds when they tell me their political orientation, e.g. that they are Convervative or Socialist. I found the following short list on a LW survey and I liked the concise descriptions associated with them:

• Libertarian, for example like the US Libertarian Party: socially permissive, minimal/no taxes, minimal/no distribution of wealth
• Conservative, for example the US Republican Party and UK Tories: traditional values, low taxes, low redistribution of wealth
• Liberal, for example the US Democratic Party or the UK Labour Party: socially permissive, more taxes, more redistribution of wealth
• Socialist, for example Scandinavian countries: socially permissive, high taxes, major redistribution of wealth
• Communist, for example the old Soviet Union: complete state control of many facets of life