How Does Liberalism Affect Us Today

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.

A return to principle and reason, and therefore to a constitutional ethos of liberty, will not be easy. The existence and growth of the welfare state has immunized a large segment of the media and general public against thinking in terms of rules, equality of rights, commutative justice, and spontaneous market order. Individual

In the mid 70’s, a new type of Conservatism was introduced, especially in Thatcher and Reagan’s governments in Britain and America. This was a very ideological strand in conservatism with a mixture between neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism, aiming to free markets while keeping society stricter and under more authority; almost Victorian like. This therefore challenges the idea that conservatives favour pragmatism over principle. The new-right adopted a stance of absolute economic liberty and free markets, a neo-liberal view on how the economy should be run. Individuals should be encouraged to be self-reliant and make rational choices in their own interests. This therefore caused the shrink of the state, and the amount of help they gave to people who were struggling; completely

Typically, liberalism is categorised into two separate components; classical liberalism, which was fashioned during the 19th century as a result of the industrial revolution, and the more recent Modern Liberalism which emerged as industrialisation continued within the UK. Although both divisions of Liberalism unavoidably overlap in attitudes and approaches regarding the theory behind the ideology, I believe, fundamentally, that clear tensions between these aspects of Liberalism are more evident when analysing this ideology.

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.

The New Right has significantly revised the relationship between conservatism and tradition, however. The New Right attempts to fuse economic libertarianism with state and social authoritarianism. As such, it is a blend of radical, reactionary and traditional features. Its radicalism is evident in its robust efforts to dismantle or ‘roll back’ interventionist government and liberal social values. This radicalism is clearest in relation to the liberal New Right, which draws on rational theories and abstract principles, and so dismisses tradition. New Right radicalism is nevertheless reactionary in that both the liberal and conservative New Right hark back to a 19th century ‘golden age’ of supposed economic prosperity and moral fortitude. However, the conservative New Right also makes an appeal to tradition, particularly through its emphasis on so-called ‘traditional values’.

During the period beginning at the end of WWII and the early 1980’s, there was period of liberalism throughout all aspects of American politics and culture. The liberalism during this era was referred to as rights liberalism, which was predicated on the idea that the state had the responsibility to protect individuals from discrimination. This directly deviates from the classical liberalism that was very common before the Progressive Era, which was based on the idea that liberty came from the government having a set role in society and never attempting to affect aspects of society it was never prescribed. Rights liberalism also deviated from the social welfare during the 1930’s in promoting the need for a more egalitarian society. This version

It was the government role to attempt to provide support for its citizens by overcoming poverty, disease and ignorance. Modern liberals defend welfarism on the basis of equality of opportunity. If particular individuals or groups are disadvantaged by their social circumstances, then the state possess a social responsibility to reduce or remove these disadvantages to create equal life chances. The effort made by both early liberals and modern liberals to enhance equality among human beings illustrated their full support to the principle of

Previously societies struggled for basic survival “the assumption of scarcity had shaped ideas about economic life and ideas about the role of government within it; it had elevated the values of thrift, restraint, and self-denial to central places in Western culture” pg. 67 Brinkley quotes Simon Patton an economist in the 1896 that states, “we are now in the transition stage from this pain economy to a pleasure economy” pg. 67. With these changes economist come to believe that consumption is the “engine driving the economy, and hence a positive public good was largely new to the industrial age.” Liberalism comes into its own during the great depression and “it transforms in response to the demands of a new and challenging time” pgs.

Liberal individualism generally functioned as the essential model focusing on the American welfare. Davies’ book called “From Opportunity to Entitlement” monitors the shifting from opportunity liberalism to entitlement liberalism during President Johnson’s war on poverty. Davies gives careful consideration to the political and authoritative battles of the 1960’s, particularly in the course of seeing the American welfare system differently. There were several important historical events and circumstances that contributed to the transition from opportunity liberalism to entitlement liberalism. These included the White House Planning Conference, Civil Rights Movement, Race and Poverty, National Welfare Movement, and the Vietnam War.

This essay will assess the relationship between liberalism and conservatism by exploring the differences in ideological beliefs of these two ideologies. Ideology can be defined as “set of interrelated and more or less coherent ideas” that constitutes of both “descriptive and normative element” on how a society works (Heywood, 2007, pp. 6-7). One of the most popular ideology in contemporary politics is liberalism which accord individual liberty and free market as its primary priority. On the other hand, conservatism is generally known for advocating tradition, societal state and authority. Firstly, we will look at theories developed by liberalism and conservatism on creation of state. It would then be followed by liberalism’s notion of individuality and individual liberty versus conservatism’s emphasis on individual imperfectionism and need for society. Thereafter, we will observe liberalism and conservatism as political ideology and how it has evolved over time. The essay will be summed up by a conclusion in the end. The terms, liberalism and conservatism mentioned in this essay are intended to be synonymous to their traditional or classical thoughts and beliefs. Every argument presented in this essay are intended to support the claim that liberalism and conservatism are not compatible ideologies. By compatible, I meant being consistent without any disagreements.

The defence of liberal ideologies emerged not long after the Second World War, prior to this there had been little faith in liberal values during the 1920’s and 1930’s, however after the war there appeared to be a renewed defence for liberal thinking ranging across a variety of ideological theories. To the present day these liberal perspectives continue to influence political thinking with regards to rights, equality and freedom. This rapid revival of liberal ideologies highlights the diverse and contradictory parts associated with liberal ideas and so we are left with two very influential theorists in liberal political philosophy yet with

Capitalists and supporters of democracy believe that socialism and modern liberalism are detrimental to economic progress. Because prices of goods and wage of workers is controlled directly by the government, privately-owned companies and institutions cannot flourish under a socialist or modern liberalist government. People who value freedom of speech and human rights likewise oppose socialism and modern liberalism, because they believe that such ideologies limit a citizen’s right to choose which products to buy, what job to take, what religious belief to espouse. Even though modern liberalism is more subtle and suave than socialism, it still ends up giving too much power to the government in the guise of economic, political, and social security.

Liberalism is a political philosophy that is founded on the ideas of liberty and equality and controls how a society functions. Since liberalism is expressed as a political ideology, it helps dictate how a nation can achieve its national security, its stable economy and the extent of control a government should possess. The perspective of the source illustrates how government intervention is needed during the threat of national security. Although, during times that national security is not being threatened, the collective society should have the freedom to break from the unnecessary government control. A philosopher such as Rousseau would have agreed with the position of the source as it gave an option of security to the people - but also gave them the choice to break the contract if they believed their rights were being violated. While a philosopher such as Hobbes would have disagreed with the source on the terms that he believed in a monarchy and believed that people needed government control at all times. Furthermore, as liberalism provides people their freedoms but also allows a certain extent of government control, the source should be taken to an full extent on the grounds that government control should only be emplaced considering national security, government control, and economic stability - which is shown through the internment of Japanese-Canadians, the New Deal, and the Patriotic Act.

Liberalism was an important concept but it also lost some of its importance in order to emerge as a new form. In the today’s world hardly any one speaks for the freedom and democracy