Everyone in America can identify as being a part of one of two groups. These two groups are at the core of our nation and have an effect on all of our lives. On November 6, 2012 voters from these two groups to went to the poles and made their decisions. After all the votes were counted one thing became very clear, our nation was divided. Barak Obama won reelections by only a slim margin on an almost perfect 50/50 split. The split in our nation’s political views has been caused by the polarization of the political views of liberals and conservatives.
Conservative and liberal have different beliefs on most everything. At the most basic level liberals are considered to be open to change while conservatives hold traditional views and prefer the status quo. These differences in base beliefs have an enormous effect on their ideas of the role of government. Liberals believe that the government should provide for and help people. By providing for the people they believe that it will create a level of equality between all classes. Liberals also believe that it is the government’s job to be involved in the nation’s social problems and guide change. For liberals it all culminates in the belief for a larger, more involved government. Conservatives on the other hand believe in a government that focuses on people’s individual responsibility and freedom. By doing so they believe that people will work to better themselves and provide for themselves. Conservatives also believe in a limed government that only provides basic functions for the people. For conservatives it all culminates in the principle of a smaller, less involved government. The basic large versus small government mentality is evident in many of the differencing views of liberals a...
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...onal with conservatives. They again follow the traditional and religious beliefs that an unborn child is alive and has its own rights as a human. Once again it boils down to their basic beliefs. The only difference is that social values can be based on religious and moral grounds rather than pure political ideals like the size and function of the government or the economy.
While there are endless examples that can be used to show the fundamental differences between liberals and conservative they can all be summed up rather simply. liberal prefer a larger, more involved government that is based on equality and change while conservative prefer a smaller, less involved government that is based on individual responsibility and personal freedom. These differences in the political views of our nation have caused polarization of the government and have divided the nation.
The typical philosophical ideals of the liberals seem to focus on the government helping the little guy and leveling the playing field. They oppose tax-cuts for the rich, they are distrustful of big-business and those who are wealthy. They like government programs that help minorities and those with lower incomes. They want to raise the minimum wage, provide better national healthcare and provide better unemployment and welfare coverage’s. They nearly always side with unions over management, the guy who sues the big business. They are sick and tired of conservatives telling them that the poor are poor because they don't work hard enough. They are sick and tired of being criticized for caring about the little guy.
Party polarization is the idea that a party’s individual stance on a given issue or person is more likely to be liberal or conservative. Typically the rise of political uniformity has been more noticeable among people who are the most politically active, but as of late, the vast majority of the American public is spilt down the middle. The broad gap between liberals and conservatives is growing rapidly through the years. Which brings on questions of why there is a cultural division? While it is agreed by most political scientists that the media, elected officials, and interest groups are polarized on given issues, in James Q. Wilson’s article How Divided Are We? he discusses the factors that contribute to the division not only to those major
Civic stances are generally broken down into three categories: liberal, conservative, and libertarian. A liberal is someone who is not narrow in his or her opinions or judgments. A conservative is someone who is disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions. And finally a libertarian is someone who upholds the principles of unrestricted liberty. Of the three, liberalism is a better stance because it is better to have an open mind when forming opinions and making judgments, especially in politics liberalism is a better stance to take than conservatism and libertarianism.
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.
Individualistic in that government is supposed to maintain a stable society but at the same time intervene as little as possible, and has a faith in idividual initiave. For example, Texas has a favorable support for private business and has limited government with restricted powers. On the other hand, the traditionalistic aspect of the state politics are exemplified by the long history of one-party dominance in state politics, the low level of voter turnout, and social and economic conservatism (Explaining, web). The conservative ideology (right-wing) according to Dr. Kim, is opposing government regulation of economiclife and supporting government regulation of personal life. In other words, a individual is considered a conservative when believes in personal responsibility, free markets. They believe the government should give the people a certain amount/the necessary of freedom in order to persue their own goals and interests. On the other hand, the liberal political ideology (left-wing) is known as an ideolgy that 100% supports government regulations on its citizens’ economic life. But, opposes completely on government regulation of personal life. Liberals, see as an necessity for governent to solve problems, and believe the role of government must be
First, a liberal is either someone or multiple people who wants to change colonials from the past, to make it more modern. They also want to reduce church power, increase secular institution. Secular Institution is an organization of individuals who are consecrated persons .What the liberal progress wanted was to have new technology, to be like Europe, they believed in science and no slavery. A liberal democracy is a representative system with some
Are you Republican or Democrat? Maybe you are Conservative or Liberal? What do these terms mean and how did they begin? Classical Conservatism is defined as “a political philosophy emphasizing the need for the principles of natural law and transcendent moral order.”(Frohnen, Beer, and Nelson, 2006) Classical Liberalism is described as “a philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets.” (Hudelson, 1999) These two ideas have shaped our philosophies and parties for centuries to come. These philosophies were made possible by many bright men of the time like Edmund Burke, John Adams, John Locke and Adam Smith.
Liberal is defined as "one who is open-minded or not strict in the observance of orthodox, traditional, or established forms or ways." (Webster's dictionary) A conservative is defined as "one who adheres to traditional methods or views." (Webster's dictionary) The definition of these words have changed throughout history. A liberal in older days was not what one would be today; they were considered a person whom sought to use change, while a conservative is one who opposed change. The differences between a liberal and a conservative is a wide gap that focuses upon the fundamental beliefs of those within each group.
Conservatives generally go with the perspective that less is more. Most would side with the argument that less government action is a better approach for society as a whole. Rather than promoting the idea of social equality, like the Liberal perspective, they promote social inequality. Most would like little government regulation and intervention of economy. Conservatives have the "big business" and "trickle down" theory, that even though the rich stay rich, their wealth will eventually reach the poor and poverty-stricken.
Liberals also believe that terrorism is a result of arrogant foreign United States policies the best way to deal with terrorism is good diplomacy. Liberals also say that responding to terrorism with military actions will only create more hatred and also cause more terrorism. Now conservatives have a totally different approach to how to deal with terrorism conservatives also believe that terrorism is the biggest threat to the United States of America. Conservatives want terrorism to dealt with and destroyed the use of intelligence gathering and military action are the best ways to deal with terrorism around the world. Conservatives also want the terrorist that are caught should be treated as enemy combatants and they should be tried in military
...ould harm it, while conservatives tend to oppose things such as the Clean Air Act for monetary reasons. Conservatives tend to support smaller government while liberals tend to want a larger government. Even though there are many differences between the two ideologies they both derived from classical liberalism. Some individuals refer to classical liberalism as the “best of both worlds” ideology. Both ideologies believe in hierarchies as an organization principle of society and both believe in the “middle class.” They both believe in the constitution and share many moral values. The two ideologies are very different, yet they are not complete opposites in every situation or argument. Many individuals have a hard time labeling themselves a ‘liberal’ or a ‘conservative’ because they may have liberal beliefs in one-area of politics and conservative beliefs in another.
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 ...
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. It is important to learn the main ideas of these two ideologies in order to understand how the political system in the United States works and to fully
Liberalism in the sense of a political philosophy was created on the ideas of equality and liberty for everyone. Basically liberalism is concerned with the notion of how individuals in political communities are able to maximize their freedom without violating the rights of other individuals. The liberalistic view on politics is that a legitimate government is necessary to protect the rights of individuals from being harmed by others. Liberalism also ensures that there is a higher authority which protects the freedoms and rights of individuals while also ensuring legitimacy of government. Liberalism is the founding base for much of the Western world’s government policies and constitution. Liberalism ensures tolerance and promotes acceptance between humans and their differences.
One of the most important details to know when watching the news is their political views. Liberals fight against poverty and advocate for ways to help diminish it while conservatives usually go in