Liberalism vs Conservatism and the Blurring of Lines

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People can often be heard spewing nonsensical political jargon such as belonging to either the “Right” or “Left”, but what exactly does belonging to and holding such positions mean? There are a countless many political parties to which one can belong and although there are those who believe that they can be broken into the two categories and schools of thought; namely that of Liberalism and Conservatism, they are, without a doubt, completely wrong; However, before we address that, let us proceed to define these two ambiguous terms.

As Jonathan Heidt, a social psychologist stated in a 2008 presentation, at TED (the Technological, Entertainment and Design conferences), Conservatism and Liberalism operate at opposite ends of two extremes. Liberals, in a sense, “speak for the weak and oppressed; want change and justice, even at risk of chaos”, while Conservatives “speak for institutions and traditions; want order even at cost to those at the bottom [of society].

In regards to Liberalism, from a political standpoint, modern Liberals are by definition, contemporary freedom fighters, who have taken the ideas of Enlightenment to the extreme, and ultimately aiming to spread a public morality bereft and divergent of religion; and stress the importance of a fully integrated freedom of choice and speech (presumably within the letter of law); for example, the sanctioning of abortion and legalization of gay marriage.

Furthermore, they believe in a larger government, run by and for the people (more correctly, the masses) and for them to be treated equally with the elite class; ironically though, they endow affirmative action, which essentially grants one American citizen more opportunities than another, based on his or her belonging to a m...

... middle of paper ...

...ally those of the American social and political spheres, subscribe to their own unique blends of ideas, and as such, even the mere suggestion of demolishing the Democratic and Republican parties, and replacing them with either Liberal or Conservative labels, is simply absurd, and by all means impossible at this point, or at any future time for that matter and on that note, and on that note, I conclude.

Works Cited

1. Gregory L. Schneider, The Conservative Century: from Reaction to Revolution (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009),xiii

2. Princeton Review, Cracking the SAT U.S. & World History Tests, 2011-2012 Edition (N.P: Princeton Review, 2011), 84.

3. Gregory L. Schneider, The Conservative Century: from Reaction to Revolution (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009), xii.

4. http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/conservative-vs-liberal-beliefs/

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