American Liberalism Vs Conservatism

The further development of industrialisation led to social and economic inequality. This led to a revision of classical liberal ideas to prevent the spread of ignorance and poverty. It is suggested that modern liberals have betrayed classical liberal ideas as they embrace collectivism and diverge from classical liberalism on issues such as freedom. However, it can be argued that modern liberals have simply built on classical liberal ideas such as its commitment to the individual.

Typically Liberalism can be categorized into two different strands, Classical and Modern (yet some thinkers advocate a third strand that is referred to as Neo-Liberalism), each characterized by their differing and to some extent unavoidably overlapping attitudes regarding the theory behind the ideology and how it should be put into practice. Prior to examining how these relate to one another and before making any comparisons, it is important to give a definition, as best as possible, of Liberalism as a concept.

It could be claimed that it is not just an ideology but is the ideology for all mankind, a fundamental truth that is not culturally specific to the West but is of global value. Modern American liberals value institutions that defend against economic inequality. Modern American liberalism is typically associated with the Democratic party, as modern American conservatism is typically associated with the Republican party. Liberals typically accept scientific ideas that some conservatives reject, such as evolution and global warming. While both types of liberals will be strong on ending the police state and ensuring due process, the biggest differences arise in economic matters. Classic liberals favor low or no tariffs, reduced regulatory burdens, even taxation with a low tax burden, and thus reduced government expenditures and small government overall. Modern liberals favor a highly progressive tax system, high taxes to break up large aggregations of wealth at the upper strata, many regulations on businesses, high minimum wage laws, and barriers to free international trade. “Modern liberalism is not completely collectivist; nor is it completely individualistic. It has elements of both doctrines. The same is true of conservatism. Neither view provides a coherent approach to politics, built up from first principles. Whereas conservatism and liberalism are both outgrowths of classical liberal thought, they differ in what they accept and reject of their intellectual roots”(Goodman). Conservatism tends to accept the classical liberal commitment to economic liberty but rejects many of its applications to the noneconomic realm. Liberalism accepts the classical liberal commitment to civil liberties but largely rejects the idea of economic

The Liberal Tradition started as a late 18th-century philosophy based on Lockean ideals and devoted to individualism. Classical Republicanism, which came from ancient philosophers, like Aristotle, emphasizes on the public good. When US government began, the Framers took pieces of these philosophies and bound them together. The separate branches, which has both liberal and republican principles, serves a historic example of the Framers work. Today, the Liberal Tradition and Classical Republicanism still coexist in our government. An example of these philosophies coexisting in the government is the representation of parties in the Senate.

In conclusion classic liberalists and modern conservatives differ in some ways. They have different attitudes towards capitalism, they have different views on why the state should allow individuals to have negative freedom and they would largely disagree on how much the state should be involved even though they would still have low state interference where as the classic liberalists would have minimal state intervention. In the UK it

Conservatism is any political philosophy that favors tradition (various religions, cultural or nationally defined beliefs and customs) in the face of external forces for change, and is critical of proposals for major social change. Some Conservatives seek to preserve the status or to reform society slowly, while others seek to return to the values of an earlier time. (Philosophybasics.com, 2016)

Conservatism as a political ideology has undergone a lot change over the years. What started out as, reverting to the olden ways has now been changed to meet the new requirements of the society. Conservatism refers to a political ideology where people feel that one should revert to traditional or the conventional way for man to progress. The idea of conservatism spread rapidly due to ‘The Great Recession, 1929’ where the idea of a free, self- regulating market as proposed by the libertarians failed. This instilled the belief amongst the people that government intervention is necessary for regulating the market and to ensure the development of the society. Important conservative philosophers were Edmund Burke, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Hobbes.

Individual hold beliefs and values that shape thought processes and actions pertaining to different realms of their lives. Political ideologies are a set of assumptions and practices that provide a framework for political action and are often used to describe or interpret the world via making assumptions about human nature, present realities, and future possibilities and identifying acceptable means of achieving social and economic development (Jost, Federico, & Napier, 2009; Orlowski, 2011). In Canada, three main ideologies are liberalism, conservatism, and socialism. Each ideology can take different forms and be positioned in a wide range of the left-right

Generally, fascism is one of the political ideologies among many others such as liberalism, conservatism, socialism, anarchism, nationalism, fascism, ecologism, religious fundamentalism and multiculturalism. To paint a clearer picture, an ideology, as stated by McLellan (1995) is the most elusive concept in the whole of the social sciences. This is said to occur because all concepts of ideology recognises a link between theory and practice and also because it has not been able to stand apart from the on-going struggle amid and amongst political ideologies.

Conservatism is a political reasoning that focuses on traditional beliefs when faced with external change. These beliefs may concern religious, cultural or national customs. Conservatives disapprove of radical social change, wishing to keep customs and the way of life the way it is, or make changes slowly. Conservatism involves right-wing politics, which seeks to protect one’s wealth and property, stressing the importance of self-reliance. Conservatives believe there is a need for improvement within healthcare. They believe the system is capable of being fixed with reform measures, such as encouraging competition among the health insurance companies. Conservatives believe in limited government, free markets, and a strong national defense.

espoused the notion that man was free to choose to live his life and earn his way as he

When looking into different political theories there are many different views and even more political opinions on what is best for any one nation and their citizens. In order to fully understand any component of government we must understand its underlying political ideologies and the beliefs behind its policies and views. Liberalism, conservatism, socialism, fascism, feminism, and environmentalism are well known political ideologies. Each ideology has drastic differences of views relating to equality, power, freedom, and justice. Let’s shift the focus by showing just how drastic these differences and concepts can be between the ideologies by looking at liberalism and socialism in terms of government and

Political ideology is known to be a set of ideas on a broad range of issues concerning government and politics and the public policies used to achieve its goals. Ideologies are used to describe and understand the world as it is through human nature, historical events, realities in the present, future possibilities, and reaching social, economic and political ideals (Jost, Federico and Napier, 309). Conservatism, anarchism and feminism all have attributes of political ideology and are relevant to modern American politics when it comes to the issues they are concerned with such as political, economic, social and individual views. Each ideology can be very different when it comes to their beliefs and solutions, but they each also have some similar characteristics.

The number one political question that the average American has been asked at least once in their lifetime, isn’t what is the role of the government or how is power equally distributed between the three branches of government? The number one questions that politically involved Americans will ask their fellow Americans is simply; are you a conservative or liberal? And the sad reality is that most Americans don’t know what conservative or liberal even means or that they are political ideologies. According to Roskin, author of Political Science: an introduction “An ideology begins with the belief that things can be better; it is a plan to improve society” (2017, p. 29). So political ideologies are simply just “commitments to change political systems” (2017, p.29). Ideologies are not new, they have been around since the seventeenth century, and the most talked about ideologies are conservative and liberal. According to Roskin, conservatism is an “ideology of keeping systems largely unchanged” (2017, p. 33). While modern liberalism is an “ideology favoring government intervention to correct economic and social ills” (2017, p.33). I personally consider myself to be a modern liberal, because I believe that the government should intervene into the economy to correct problems within economic markets and to promote fair outcomes such as higher minimum wages and higher taxes on the wealthy. As Roskin states “Modern liberals championed wage and hours laws, the right to

Liberalism combines the beliefs in a strong government to provide security and protection for civil rights and the beliefs in freedom of government. Modern liberal approves the use of the government power to correct the society that isn’t doing so well. It can be impatient when you see the slow process toward solving socioeconomic problems. They oppose restrictions on gay rights, prayers at the schools, abortions. If americans lined themselves up with conservative dimension policies the United States would be so much easier to describe, but a lot less interesting. Yet some people still consistently support a strong government in the civil rights and economic affairs. And some people, who are referred to as a libertarians are against most environmental regulations. This may result in a two dimensional ideological battlefield. A liberal 's response is woman have the right to choose what she does with her own body. While others are strongly against abortions, and