Essay on The Death Of Liberal America

The decline of the Liberal party and the subsequent rise of Labour was caused by a variety of intertwining factors. The Liberal Party to some extent played a part in its own downfall but this essay seeks to explore this and other factors, such as the role of the First World War and the electoral system, in the decline of the Liberal Party and how they aided the rise of Labour.

The idea of Liberalism, especially in the United States, is centered about the unalienable rights of an individual such as the freedoms found in the United States Bill of Rights. In the book, The Strange Death of American Liberalism by H.W. Brands, Brands says that liberalism in the United States could only survive during times of war. The United States retreats into liberalism when there is a war going on and they need the federal government’s assistance. On the other hand, the book, Liberalism: The Genius of American Ideals by Marcus G. Raskin, argued that there was no escaping from liberalism. According to Raskin, liberalism has not faded into history like many people think. Liberalism is important in the United States because it drives

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.

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

Liberal democracy, also known as ‘representative democracy’, is a form of government or political system in which “democracy works on the tenets of liberalism” (Holden, 1993). This system has been dominant in the Western countries, such as New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States of America, over the past century or so. Other non-Western countries have also adopted this system following the collapse of communism in the 1990s. This system seeks to increase civil liberties by defending them against encroachment by forces of power such as the government. It also limits the government’s influence on moral and economic matters that affect citizenry (Avril & Neem, 2015).

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

The Post Liberal Era begins with the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Although Ronald Reagan was one of the most popular president in United States history, the years he served were not beloved by many. One example of this was Reverend Jerry Falwell. Reverend Falwell believed that “our grand old flag from going down the drain.” according to the Reverend Jerry Falwell, Moral Majority Fundraising Letter. He was against homosexual people and the distribution of pornography and R/X rated movies. He seemed to believe that the sex and violence they contained were bad for America as a whole. Lastly, he brought up the controversial subject of abortion, believing it to be synonymous with murder.

That night, Andre stayed with a Loyalist attorney named Joshua Smith. While not permitted to wear civilian attire, he got clothes and road horseback with Smith towards Tarrytown, New York near British lines. Smith left Andre towards the end of the trip and when Andre was close to his destination three men stopped him. These men questioned Andre and instead of showing his pass that he was John Anderson, Andre trusted the men and revealed who he really was. The men, who Andre thought were Loyalists were part of the American Army, searched Andre and found the information given to him by Arnold in his shoes. He was captured and taken to the American commanding officer who informed General Washington and Arnold of the news. Arnold immediately

Looking at the United States in 1965, it would seem that the future of the liberal consensus was well entrenched. The anti-war movement was in full swing, civil rights were moving forward, and Johnson's Great Society was working to alleviate the plight of the poor in America. Yet, by 1968 the liberal consensus had fallen apart, which led to the triumph of conservatism with the election of President Reagan in 1980. The question must be posed, how in the course of 15 years did liberal consensus fall apart and conservatism rise to the forefront? What were the decisive factors that caused the fracturing of what seemed to be such a powerful political force? In looking at the period from 1968 to the

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.

Dahl illustrates this by making reference to George Bush Jr. winning the presidential election in 2000, when Al Gore held the popular vote. Further, the Constitution has no solid basis of democracy to which other developed and enlightened democracies such as Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden and United Kingdom to which all have democratic constitutions and to which have been steadily democratic since 1950. P.186 Instead, Dahl discusses the American system has a hybrid of democracy. In essence, Dahl argues that the Constitution is incapable of delivering democracy to the American people in the modern world, since the framers limited the powers of congress in many matters that would in time become more prudent. Dahl observes democracy changing over time and that the U.S. Constitution is ill equipped to meet the changes needed.

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

Supporting the premise of individual rights is the radical concept that liberalism was founded on. As a result, liberals found it quite difficult to embrace and accommodate any strong idea of any form of community. The only exception they accept is the national community where individuals are expected to forsake their personal comfort space and sacrifice when the difficult times arise.

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

Since the post-World War 1 period, Liberalism has been actively advanced by Western (or 'first-world') states as a desirable system of political theory. According to Dunne (in Baylis & Smith 2001, pp. 163), the basis for its appeal stems from the fact that Liberalism is viewed as inherently 'optimistic', making it a natural counter-theory to the Realist theories advanced by practitioners of realpolitik in the past (feudalism, dictatorships etc.). What makes Liberalism 'optimistic' in a sense is that, as an ideology, it is fundamentally anchored around the liberty of the individual, and furthermore, strives for global peace. Considering the rampant destruction and bloodshed experienced by many of the states involved in both the World Wars,