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Political Ideology Essay

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Ideology Note: these are ‘generalizations’ and are not ‘all inclusive’… An ideology is a collection of ideas, typically containing ideas on what it considers to be the best form of government (democracy, theocracy, etc), & the best economic system (capitalism, socialism, etc). Sometimes the same word is used to identify both an ideology & one of its main ideas, e.g., "socialism" may refer to an economic system, or to an ideology which supports that economic system. - Political ideologies generally have two dimensions: Goals: (how society should work or be arranged) and Methods: (the most appropriate ways to achieve the ideal arrangement). - Ideology is basically constant, & we generally use a straight line ‘left is liberal & right …show more content…

or support: - Social Darwinism (survival of the fittest), believe in self reliance & individualism, and as such; - generally against ‘social welfare’ programs to re-distribute wealth (from rich to poor) - believe private business should be left alone to compete in ‘free market enterprise’ without gov’t control or interference, however, they routinely favor government support & funding for highways, etc, and other programs to promote business (assistance) - generally ‘traditionalists’, for political ‘status quo’ & view change suspiciously - generally favor stiff criminal penalties (strong law & order), emphasize ‘traditional’ moral & family values (anti-abortion, anti-homosexual, anti-same sex marriage) - are skeptical of human nature; believe ‘the rich get richer while the poor get poorer’ is the law of nature, because some people are stronger, smarter, harder working than others Liberals generally believe government should take care of all the problems of society; that government power should be used to protect the disadvantaged, individuals, the masses - generally believe individual concentrations of wealth & power (wealthy elite) control the government, destroy economic competition & weaken individual freedom, and as such; - generally believe it necessary for the government to regulate the economy and ‘big business’ to protect ‘the workers’, ‘the masses’, ‘the people’ from the ‘wealthy elite’ - generally support ‘social welfare’ programs (redistribution

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