American Conservatism Essay

There are three political ideologies that are addressed by Cullen and Gilbert (2012). The first one is the conservative ideology. Conservatives place their main emphasis on traditional values, and tend to have issues when someone tries to change tradition. According to conservatives, maintaining social order is an important way to protect society as a whole. Individuals are on their own when it comes to the ideology of conservatives. They have the assumption that individuals are responsible for their own actions, good or bad. Conservatives will protect innocent citizens, but will focus on the punishment of guilty one rather than rehabilitation.

After reading “The Conservative Ascendancy: How the Republican Right Rose to Power in Modern America”, written by Donald Critchlow, I learned how the modern conservative movement swept through the country. Critchlow talks about the changing of attitude in America and how it affected the conservative movement. He covers the Reagan era which was considered the golden age of modern conservatism, along with several other important events. Along with the revival of the churches and the New Deal. For this response I will discuss Critchlow’s argument and how he supported it. Along with Critchlow’s view on neo-conservatives and whether they damaged or helped the conservative movements. The final thing I will talk about is who Critchlow mentioned in

The liberal ideas of FDR’s New Deal were coming to an end. The failing economy, poor political leaders, and drastic social issues that took place in the 1970s left Americans searching for salvation. Over the next decade, the United States will later find that salvation in conservativism.

Whereas a strongly conservatives averaged neutral on Ingroup / loyalty statements, while agreeing with fairness / Reciprocity, Harm / Care and Purity / Sanctity and strongly agreeing with Authority / Respect(Graham, Haidt and Nosek 2009).

Conservatism is described as a political belief with emphasis on traditional values and practices. In the 20th century conservatism exist, but in varying degrees. Some were conservative in specific areas, such as the economy.

The 1950s in America are often described as a time of complacency. By contrast, the 1960s and 1970s were a time of great change. But the economy of the 70s was not stable because of the Oil crisis and presidents did not seem to find a solution to get the economy work again. For the right, the federal government had been spending too much money on the social programs. Conservatism believes that the best way to run a society is to maintain social and political framework and that the government should be as limited as possible,

The United States has dealt with times of prosperity and turmoil throughout its establishment. At times of succession, the government seeks to find methods to prolong the times of prosperity by focusing on the economy and controversial issues that spark debates among the public. In times of disorder, however, the government seeks to change the way things are done and seek reform according to the specific problems at hand. Two eras of reform that produced change in the United States are the Progressive Era and New Deal. The Progressive Era glorified issues that relied on the change that were morally wanted, while the New Deal dealt with change based on what the nation needed. The accomplishments, shortcomings, and failures define each era based

The conservative movement has played a crucial role in American politics in the post war era. Ronald Story and Bruce Laurie indentify various elements of the American conservatism. These elements include challenging authoritarian governments and modernist culture, upholding tradition, Christian religion and the rule of law, defending western civilization, and supporting republicanism. American conservatism has been characterized by competing ideologies and tension throughout history. The Americans who are politically liberal and economically conservative favor free trade, minimal state intervention, low taxes, and a small government. On the other hand, conservatives hold the view that American traditional values are normally undermined by

Different ideologies tend to appeal to different demographic characteristics such as gender, class, race, etc. because a person’s background will affect which system of ideas they most closely align with. Liberalism and conservatism, for example, are ideologies that regularly contradict each other, because they appeal to different demographics based upon many factors such as class, race, gender, religion, etc. The general worldview of liberalism is that people have individual rights and liberty, while promoting progress. On the other hand, conservatism places greater importance of keeping tradition and strict regulation of rules. In determining the extent of appeal to different demographics, one must assess the ways in which both ideologies

George Lakoff has a very unique was of looking at moral politics. He attempts to dissect the views of the liberal party and the views of the conservative parties in today’s society. Liberals believe that the government should take action to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all. The liberal party claims the duty of the government is to alleviate social problems and to protect civil liberties and human rights. Also, they believe the role of the government should be to guarantee that no one is in need. The need for the government to solve problems is what the liberal party emphasizes on. On the other hand, Conservatives believe in a system made of personal responsibility, limited government, free markets, individual liberty, traditional American values and a strong national defense. A conservative generally believes the role of government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals but to not get in the way of personal freedom. Conservative policies generally emphasize empowerment of the individual to solve problems on their own. Both sides being so completely opposite raises the question of which of the two views is correct for handling different aspects in society such as taxes, abortion, capital punishment etc? Lakoff’s two models known as the strict father model and the nurturant family model strive to relate the conservative and liberal views to explain how a conservative and liberal would

"As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust, so there are other qualities in human nature which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence. Republican government presupposes the existence of these qualities in a higher degree than any other form" (339).

Starting during the 1970s, factions of American conservatives slowly came together to form a new and more radical dissenting conservative movement, the New Right. The New Right was just as radical as its liberal opposite, with agendas to increase government involvement beyond the established conservative view of government’s role. Although New Right politicians made admirable advances to dissemble New Deal economic policies, the movement as a whole counters conservativism and the ideologies that America was founded on. Although the New Right adopts conservative economic ideologies, its social agenda weakened the conservative movement by focusing public attention to social and cultural issues that have no place within the established Old

     When this class initially began I was sure, without a doubt I was a conservative. As the semester progressed I discovered the reasons I was considered conservative. The town a person grows up in, financial status, social class, age, gender and the race of the individual have a strong influence on a individuals

Furthermore, Degler maintains that proof of this fundamental change of the American psyche can be found in the permanence of some of the New Deal programs. He contends that in the 1950s the first Republican administration after the depression under Dwight Eisenhower did not turn back the reforms of the New Deal. Banking regulation, the TVA, SEC, and Social Security, among other programs are still in existence today and have become part of the American way of life. Still today, no political party aspiring to gain high office dares to repeal them.vi Leuchtenburg agrees with this point and suggests that the New Deal “altered the character of the State of America” vii

Liberalism and conservatism have been political ideas and thoughts from the very birth of our democracy. Their views and points of the government's role in a democratic society have changed over the years, but the basic ideas and principles have remained the same. There are many different degrees of liberalism and conservatism as almost anyone can be labeled. Some individuals are radical and extreme while others stand on more of a neutral territory, but the debates between the understood ideas of each group have continued throughout the history of the United States. We will take liberalism's Gary Doore and conservatism's Irving Kristol as modern day examples and compare and contrast the