American Liberalism Essay

Roosevelt created the New Deal. Roosevelt, former Progressive, want to radically reform Industrial Capitalism. The New Deal was Roosevelt economic policy to help fix the economy and fix the problems of Industrial Capitalism. Like the Progressives, the New Deal wanted Government to have more control over the economy .The New Deal adopted a “deficit spending” type of economy; this wanted the government to have more control over America’s money. To help stabilize the economy the New Deal created the monetary reform. This end the gold standard created and gave the government more control over the economy. The Mellon Plan created during the Roaring twenties was destroyed, giving the government more money. The New Deal was also able to created more jobs for people in America. The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration help to employ more people. Also the legalizing of unions help to improve work conditions for the workers. Even though The New Deal was effective at helping workers by creating more jobs and stabilized the monetary system, Industrial Capitalism still had

President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed several pieces of legislation that became known as the Second New Deal. It included the passing of the Social Security act. This act provided benefits for the elderly, disabled and unemployed. It also included the National Labor Relations Act. Originally known as the Wagner Act, it gave organized labor rights to bargain collectively with businesses and forced employers to allow unionization of their employees.

People’s views on a wide range of issues are influenced or determined by the kind of foundational belief systems they hold. Therefore, the difference in the nature of opinions among individuals or groups of people alludes to the existence of distinct belief systems. In the course of history, the distinction between Liberalism and Conservatism has become more vivid particularly in the political arena where various players have expressed opposing points of view regarding the nation’s future. It is indeed undisputable that the foundational beliefs of Liberalism are diametrically opposed to those of Conservatism. This essay will give a definition of each term and describe how the two oppose each other.

Liberalism, in general, was an ideological movement that emerged out of the ideas of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century. It embraced the ideas of individualism which were established in the Renaissance and Reformation era. The Renaissance period sparked a belief in the importance of the individual in society. It helped promote the beliefs of classical liberalism which gradually formed into the liberal ideology of the 19th century. Individuals that were waiting to get their individual rights and freedoms were allowed to finally gain liberty and power through this period of time. Classical liberalism developed

Liberalism started with the ideas of the Enlightenment. Two of these ideas were freedom of speech and freedom of the individual, and kept growing from there. Liberalism is the belief in a small central government and no monarchy. The liberalists defended the ideas of the definitive rights of an individual’s liberty, equality and property. The liberalists wanted their government to be established on written laws and a constitution based on equality.

Reform and reconstruction were represented by new regulations and monetary policies, it stressed the importance of change to make understanding principles of, “justice and fairness by those in whom leadership was placed,” and to correct conditions in the economy. (Bolden, 48). Other goals that the New Deal was set to accomplish were: helping the banking industry recover from its failure after the stock market crashed, lowering the unemployment rate from a record high of twenty five percent in 1932, and to restore the hope and confidence of the public. (Appleby, Roosevelt’s New Deal went about all of these in a similar means, but it was condemned and criticized by many for some of the programs that were installed.

The effects of the Depression during the 1930’s still impact America today. The New Deal was passed to rebuild the economy after the Great Depression. William L. Niemi and David J. Plante discussed the meaning of the new deal to our economy today, “Under the New Deal regime there were more labor rights, less Supreme Court intervention in the economy, more public accountability in the structure of financial institutions driving the political economy, and a more equitable distribution of wealth”(Plante, Niemi, 413-427). Franklin Roosevelt created the New Deal, which was his plan to take America out of the Depression. He had three goals: relief, reform, and recovery. The New Deal set up policies that help us prevent future economic depressions and achieve long-term recovery. Policies that still stand and affect our economy today are the Securities and Exchange Commissions (SEC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The SEC today still regulates the stock market and enforces laws that protect the industry. The SEC was used to restore the nations confidence in the economy after the Depression. The FDIC is an important part of America’s financial system. The FDIC was part of the Banking Act of 1933. The FDIC insures banks with a certain amount of money to make it a safer place to put your money in. Roosevelt

Liberalism emphasizes the importance of Rights in society, and that society’s role is to protect these rights and put them first.

During this time, “…FDR promised ‘a new deal for the American people’” (Polenberg, 8). FDR quickly realized that in order to win over the citizens of the United States and to fix the crisis they were in, he had to address the two main things that he saw every American wanted during this economical depression. Polenberg informs his readers that FDR saw that the two things every American wanted was “…Work; work with all the moral and spiritual values that go with work. And with work, a reasonable measure of security—security for themselves and for their wives and children” (p.8). Knowing that these were the two main aspects (at the time) that FDR had to place the majority of his attention on, he went to work immediately as “He feared that a resolution was likely if he failed, as Hoover had, to solve the nation’s problems” therefore he begun formation of the first New Deal reforms (Polenberg, 8). These reforms were “…designed not so much to promote reform as to proceed recovery,” (Polenberg, 9) therefore indicating that “…the Roosevelt administration intended to move the country in a dramatically new direction” (Polenberg, 9). Some of the programs that the New Deal initiated were: the NIRA (National Industrial Recovery Act), the NRA (the National Recovery Administration), the AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Act), the WPA (Works Progress Administration), the CWA (Civil Works Administration), and the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) just to name a few (Polenberg, 9-13). Each reform act was aimed at recovering a different but specific area of society. For example, the TVA worked to “…provide cheap electrical power… and… help prevent soil erosion and control floods” (Polenberg, 13) while the AAA “…served as the foundation of New Deal farm policy… balancing agricultural production and consumption so as to avoid surpluses and ensure that

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

The words of Johnson outline the premise of the liberal consensus, that given the opportunity individuals would work to The "Great Society" programs that were to enable the change, were for the most part enacted under Johnson during his term in office. This stems largely from his experience and power with Congress.

Liberalism is a collection of political, social and economic philosophies that is centered around the rights of personal liberties, civil rights, economic freedom, controlled and democratic government and the rule of law. A controlled and democratic government is instrumental to liberalism. A controlled government is one restricted by the law. The most common example of this can be found in the United States Constitution. The Constitution has outlined the roles and restrictions of each branch of government while also setting a system of checks and balances.

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

In America, there are three major civic stances: conservatism, liberalism, and libertarianism. The liberal stance is the only stance, which offers the foundation to move forward. The following paper will briefly explain, certain aspects of conservatism and libertarianism, and will advance the idea, America must move forward with a more liberal attitude. At heart, this writing will argue a strong government is of the utmost importance in moving this country forward to the future. While other political agendas advocate liberty and freedom, the liberal stance truly offers a realistic approach and method of achieving those aspects of American life.

Beginning with Nixon and continuing with Reagan after the radical changes of American culture in the sixties and seventies, Americans would begin to shift towards more conservative ideas unsure of the rapid radical change. In the 1994 mid term elections, the American people would elect a congress of mostly conservatives for the first time in nearly 50 years. At the core of this success would be the Contract with America. A set of promises and goals devised by conservative congressional representative Newt Gingrich. In 2000 the Republicans (modern conservative party) would retain the Congress and capture the White House. Conservatism has been a leading political ideology since the inception of the United States to