There are two groups that seem to emerge when the topic of politics are brought up. Those groups are Liberals and Conservatives, these two groups seem to have very different views on how this country should be run. Both groups have their strong points but the differences between what the groups believe are on opposite ends of the spectrum. The definition of Liberalism is incomplete but if you look it up in the dictionary you will find that “in the twentieth century, liberalism is a viewpoint or ideology associated with free political institutions and religious toleration, as well as support for a strong role of government in regulating capitalism and constructing the welfare state” (dictionary.reference.com). According to this weeks reading …show more content…
Conservatives are people that think that the government should be the way it used to be and not have so much to do with the welfare of the people. They believe that the less the government has to do with the people the better off the people will be. Conservatives support the old values which this country was founded on, free from government rule. The difference between Liberalism and Conservatism is that liberals want change to happen and feel it is a good thing to happen. Liberals do not care how fast things are changing just as long as they change for the good. While Conservatives want things to stay as much the old ways as possible the founding fathers ways are the way things should stay. Conservatives want to keep their traditional values in place and if change is to happen they want it to go as slowly as possible to ensure it is the right …show more content…
It seems that the liberalism and conservatism ideologies are like two bulls pulling on opposite sides of a cart going now where. Both groups have the same goal of changing things for the better but different ways of doing so. If you were to watch the news you would see that there are still sick, homeless, and people with to much money. There needs to be a happy medium between the two plans. Instead of giving handouts such as welfare, which creates the problem people abusing the program, but instead providing training programs. This would give the people the chance to make the choice to make the decision and then act upon it themselves. There needs to be a balance between the two ideologies, a little tough love with a little foresight. We as a country need to be proud of the opportunities we have created and not shut out the world around us, but not be so naive about the treats that our country does face. We need to not allow ourselves to sink down to a third world country status, but instead show the third world an example to
Liberalism is an ideology which advocates equality of opportunity for all within the framework of a system of laws. It includes a belief in government as an institution whose primary function is to define and enforce the laws. Furthermore, a Constitution, must be developed not solely by one ruler but by representatives of the elite groups. Therefore, liberalism invariably involves a belief in the need for legislative bodies which represent the influential groups. The Constitution then defines ...
They also believe that business people tend to be better at economic decisions than politicians. They believe that the government has its place, but many times oversteps its authority for political reasons. Big business and corporations are not evil in their world, in fact most conservatives will tell you that big business and corporate success is the only thing that will make the economy go.
Classical liberalism is an ideology that embraces the principles of individualism such as rule of law, individual rights and freedoms, private property, economic freedom, self-interest, competition. Classical liberalism stresses the importance of human rationality. Just as it values political freedom, classical liberalism also holds freedom to be the basic standard in economics, and believes the most beneficial economic system to be the free market. Whereas, the term socialism, when generally used refers to any ideology that believes that resources should be controlled by the public for the benefit of everyone in society and not by private interests for the benefit of private owners and investors. From the description of both classical liberalism and socialism provided above it is clear that the two are conflicting ideologies where one supports individualism the other supports collectivism that believes in the wellbeing of all citizens in a community.
In the United States we are divided by the left and right side on the political spectrum; even further divided into political parties such as Republicans, on the right, and Democrats, on the left side. These two political parties show philosophical differences through their viewpoints on major topics such as the economy, separation of church and state, abortion, and gun control.
Today there is a split in American politics on how to combat poverty. Throughout history, how America combats poverty has changed depending on what party is running the government. There has been a number of different parties however, Republican, Democrat, The Bull Moose Party, and other various ones. However, these views can be put into two main categories: The Liberal ideology and the Conservative ideology.
- Liberalism is a form of political structure where the powers of the government are limited against the people and their property
Classical conservatism or traditional conservatism, Burkean conservatism, and Toryism, is a party that has re-expressed their convections to fit the time. (Frohnen, Beer, and Nelson, 2006) In classical conservatism, many parties have adapted their view points. One of the first parties in American that adapted the philosophies of conservatism was the Whigs. The Whigs opposed monarchial power, advocated internal reform of administration, and freedom under the law. They believed in balancing orders in the common wealth and religious toleration. (Kirk, 1953) One person highly recognized for his work in the public sector for conservatism was Edmund Burke.
Liberalism is an ideology and due to the changing views of historical persons, who have each viewed themselves to be Liberals, is difficult to define precisely. There are five agreed defining tenants of Liberalism. The most important of these, percolating through the ideology, is the ‘Importance of the Individual’, and closely interlinked with this is ‘Freedom’, which leads on to the concept of ‘Individual Freedom or liberty’. Liberals believe that humankind is a rational species, and thus ‘Reason’ is a third tenant. Furthermore Liberalism advocates that the principle of ‘Justice’ and Toleration’ are fundamental in the well being of society and each of these aspects relates directly back to the quintessential first tenant. Liberalism, according to Habermas “emphasizes individual freedom from restraint and is usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market, and the gold standard; c: a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties.” As an individualist, rather than a collectivist ideology the individual is placed as the building block of society. J. S. Mill says ...
The conservatives are a political party who make up the right side of the political spectrum who have a strong stance on law and order, religion, social order, traditional values (i.e. marriage) and strict law enforcement. As it can be seen, these values are highly interrelated and so if one of the values changes then that would lead to a chain effect and as a result, the party would develop a huge amount of distrust, therefore, they largely do not support change.
Modern liberalism and modern conservatism are both political outlooks that involve acceptance or support of the balance of the degree of social equality and social inequality; while they tend to avoid political changes that would result in extreme deviation of society to either side. Modern liberalism and modern conservatism tend not to be as centrist or middle-of-the-road ideologies as they once could be. Ideology is a set of ideas and beliefs that guide the goals, expectations, and actions of a group (Webster’s Dictionary). Individuals who are conservative or liberal tend to have views that align within a political party, whether it be Republican or democratic, but this is not always the case. There are conservative democrats, such as, Jim Costa and Jim Cooper and there are liberal republicans, such as, Nathaniel Banks and George Washington Julian. Another name for conservative democrats would be blue dog democrats while the nickname for liberal republicans is the Rockefeller republicans. These two ideologies tend to be more of the centrist ideologies. Modern liberals tend to be members of the Democratic Party because they support a wide range of welfare programs and government support of the public sector and tighter corporate regulations (PP Modern Liberalism). U.S. Conservatism evolved from classical liberalism, which makes them similar, yet there is many differences between modern conservatism and modern liberalism. There are principles and tenets that govern each ideology. A tenant is a belief or idea that is held as being true from a group (Webster’s Dictionary). In understanding both ideologies, it is imperative to have an understanding of classical liberalism. Classical liberalism was built on ideas from the seventeenth ...
Conservative liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or simply representing the right-wing of the liberal movement. It is a more positive and less radical variant of classical liberalism.
Liberals believe in the world as a rational structure which can be uncovered through human reason, therefore they (liberals) can make the world a better place by fixing/progressing it by shaping and changing human beings thinking to be able to resolve their conflicts and differences through debates and arguments rather that was are bloodshed. Conservative ideas and principles first emerged in the late eighteenth century and the nineteenth century; they emerged as a result of their rebel against the growing pace of political and economic change, which was mostly influenced by the French revolution. They came to an agreement that they should go back to the ancient regime, which means the old orders or tradition. In nearly every society throughout human history, there have been people who have tried to constitute themselves as elite or noble. From the pharaohs of ancient Egypt to the thugs of ancient Rome to the glorified warlords of medieval and sovereign Europe, these people are the modern conservatives (Agre, P 2004).
I am a liberal. Modern liberalism in the United States is associated with the ideas of liberty and political equality; its advocates favor change in the social, political, and economic realms to better protect the well-being of individuals and to produce equality within society. My liberal views align with the Democratic Party on almost every single issue.
I consider myself politically neutral and look at both sides equally. As a Christian and as a person who should care about other people, modern liberalism sounds better than classic liberalism. The ideologie of assisting others that cannot assist themselves is something I strive to do everyday. I understand that if the Government intervenes with a lot of social and economic problems there is going to be something else that gets cut. Like Obama raising taxes on the rich in 2013, someone had to pay to help out the less
According to Schlenker et.al, liberalism believes in progressiveness whereby the social standard of society is based on equalities where social inequality portray failing of the society instead of individuals (002). They further connote that conservative believes on traditional development of the society which represent the overall wisdom of ages, which enhance to meet the needs that affect culture and environmental and therefore, there is a need to preserve it. Conservatives individuals resist changing while liberalists are open-minded on the way they think and view things such as politics, social and economic situations.