Arguments Regarding the US Economy from Conservative and Liberal Mindsets

Welf... ... middle of paper ... ...Radio Address on the Economy." Democratic National Committee. Raul Grijalva. 26 Oct. 2002. http://www.democrats.org/news/200210300002.html "Senate Republicans Back President's Welfare Reform Plan." United States Senate Republican Policy Committee.

To liberalists, economic freedom is more important than economic equality. Socialists believe that citizens are best served by policies focused on meeting the basic needs of the entire society rather than an individual. All citizens should work equally as hard and put in equal contributions. The goal is equality. While liberalists and socialists have the same intentions of creating the best nations, that are peaceful and prosperous, they have very different views and approaches on how to create said nations.

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.

Classical liberal ideas often form the basis for opposition to the use of government to attain social objectives. They stress instead reliance on private initiatives or the free market to determine the best outcomes. Liberals believe in the government action the allows equal opportunities and equality for all. Liberals have a more fact-based, rather than faith-based, ideology. They are not so motivated by self-serving but actually negative emotions, such as prejudice, greed and fear, and thus can see the great advantages to a society of justice for all The basic duty of the government is to protect the common good and private rights of individuals.

The fact that federal regulation of the economy was conservative in its effect in preserving existing power and economic relations in society shows that federal regulation in the economy was conservative as well. Through the many antitrust acts and various economic and social policies, the Progressive Era ultimately operated on the assumption that the general welfare of the community could be best served by satisfying the concrete needs of business. The big business and business leaders influenced the regulation and the government worked for the people, promoting competition and decentralization. Hence, the Progressive movement served to preserve original goals, not reform society with Liberalism.

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. Concerning the debate on our economy, republicans generally believe strongly in the power of a free market system, reduced income tax rate, more spending from the people, and less spending from the government. The Republican Party wants the tax rate to not be affected regardless of how much wealth a person has, and wants the tax rate to be reduced in order to create more private spending. According to the Republican National Convention web site, republicans “believe government should tax only to raise money for its essential functions,” such as keeping citizens safe from criminals and maintaining basic infrastructure and national security (Barton).

There are two major ideologies in the American government: Conservatism and Liberalism. As every ideology, both of them have their strengths and weaknesses. These two ideologies have been leading the American Government to a more democratic and moral society, and both of them have contributed in certain ways to achieve new things or to keep things under control, both ideologies offer different ways to solve problems. Conservatism promotes retaining of traditions and minimal change in society and the consequences it may bring, Liberalism is the ideology founded in the ideas of equality and liberty. Conservatives, tend to be partisans of the Republican Party while liberals in their majority tend to be partisans of the Democrat party, but that does not mean that you cannot be a liberal and be part of the Republican Party or vice versa.

As I stated before, democrats are liberal and stand for people 's individual rights and republicans stand for a conservative government (Guide pg. 23) Both are structured differently in which effects society as whole. In my opinion, a liberalist idea does have its pros and cons. Although, I do like the idea of

Conservative policies generally emphasize empowerment of the individual to solve problems. Conservatives seek to stop the growing entitlement programs, encourage individual responsibility, and look to return constitutionally mandated power to the states. Conservatism sees a nation of people capable of solving their own problems with minimal government help, as long as the people are free. Liberals, on the other hand, are described as being favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs. Liberals believe in government action to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all.

The Role of the Government "We are the party of small, responsible and efficient government... We therefore assert the power of the American people over government, rather than the other way around". The view of the Republicans across the Nation is that the role of government should be kept to a minimum. In this section, I will discuss certain views of the Party and how they would be accepted or rejected by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The Republican notion has been that less government is better. Rousseau's notion was that of extrication.