What Is Classical Liberalism

Conservatism is a classic ideology that defends and promote existing traditional arrangement by encouraging structured community is maintained while ensuring common values to the people. They tends to oppose liberalist as the see liberalism as an ideology that preaches individualism rather than encouraging more benefits that a group of people or society can bring to people in general. The benefit would be much, should such group exists and well maintained within the society (Shively,

Another area in which it is suggested that modern liberalism has departed from classical liberalism is freedom. Classical liberals believe in negative freedom. This is simply that there should be an absence of external constraints on the individual and as such they should be left alone to make their own choices. In this way classical liberals were heavily influenced by the natural rights theories of John Locke and Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson claimed that we were born with inalienable rights and therefore no individual or government had the right to take these away. Freedom from constraints is therefore an essential condition for exercising these rights. In practise, this has meant that classical liberals have advocated a minimal state or what John Locke referred to as the ‘night-watchman state’. The activities of this state should be limited to the enforcement of contracts, maintaining order and protection from foreign threats to prevent the state from infringing on individual liberties as much as possible.

Classical Liberalism is against government interventionism in all realms of life. They believe that everyone should be treated equally regardless of income. This differs from reform liberalism, as they want government intervention to guarantee equality of opportunity. This is made possible by progressive income tax, government regulation on big business, and social welfare. In My opinion Classical Liberalism is superior as its fair and easier to implement than reform Liberalism.

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

Some will say that both classical and modern liberalists possess a number of parallel approaches towards this

Laissez-faire ideas were considered liberal during the 1920s, but the coming of the Great Depression in 1929 altered the American view of liberalism.

Modern and Classical liberalism can be distinguished historically. Indeed when most people attempt to distinguish the two, placing the strands into time periods is perhaps the most obvious and easiest distinctions to make. The period in between the late 18th century and the mid 19th is that magnanimous with Classical liberalism. It was the earliest liberal tradition, and reached its high point during the early industrialization of the 19th century and is therefore sometimes referred to as ‘19th century liberalism’. Politicians and thinkers associated with it are Smith, Ricardo and Locke. Modern liberal ideas were related to the further development of industrialization and thus people associate it with the period between the mid-19th century and the mid-20th century and with figures such as J. S. Mill, Green and Lloyd- George. Indeed the historical development of society led to a parallel evolution of liberalism, with the character of liberalism changing as the ‘rising middle classes’ succeeded in establishing their economic and political dominance. Liberalism was no longer radical or revolutionary, but had become increasingly conservative and concerned itself less with change and reform, but instead with the maintenance of the status quo. This lead to liberals in the late 19th century beginning to question the

As far as individual rights George H.W Bush has no opinion while George W Bush is conservative about it. George H.W Bush aso has no opinion about about abortion while George W Bush is conservative towards it. Both disagree with hiring minorities and women. George W Bush strongly disagrees with same sex marriage while George H.W Bush agrees with it.

Before Ronald Reagan's landside victory in the 1980 presidential election, Jimmy Carter was president. Despite Carter's "untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts," he was criticized for not delivering a strong economy (Darity, 2008, p.450-452). Meanwhile, his 1980 election opponent, Ronald Reagan had an another agenda in mind. During his campaign Reagan simplified voter's decision by emphasizing the question "Are you better off than you were four years ago?"

President Ronald Reagan and President Franklin D. Roosevelt were alike in their thoughts when it came to several things. These two presidents also each showed a valued ability to bring new leadership, visions, and to rejuvenate an old exhausted leadership that had failed the America and its people (Sloan, 2008). Each had a way of transforming the thought process of the American people relating to the roles of government; whereas, we were providing more security for citizens or backing off of unneeded federal regulations. These presidents’ leadership traits and core principles, still have impacts on the way today’s politics and policies are handled.

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.

Classical liberalism is the transition from focusing on government to focusing on the rights of individuals. This transition came about during the time of the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. The Enlightenment period was when man started to have more faith in his own reasoning. People began to look for evidence on their beliefs themselves and to find proof on these beliefs, so that they could come up with their own opinions on things. One way that they did this was by going back and rereading Roman and Greek texts and retranslating these texts. This new way of thinking also caused the Protestant Reformation to occur. Some of the most influential Enlightenment writers were John Locke, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and the people of France’s National Constituent Assembly.

Classical liberalism is an ideology that is usually unfavorable to using authority of the state other than ensuring rights and liberties. Government and individuals agree to protect people’s rights and allow for maximum freedom. Laissez-faire focuses on the liberty of an individual and the lack of social equality. Laissez-faire capitalism is where people are unrestricted to invest in what the prices of services will be, what the produce will sell at. In a modern welfare-state capitalism has influenced our understanding of the terms of the social contract because they practice a system of mixed capitalist that have rules by the government for businesses and marketing.

According to the oxford definition of in American politics, Conservatism means outright opposition to the existing model of society. This opposition is considered right at all times in terms of classical conservatism and can take a 'reactionary' form, that promotes the importance of going back to, and attempting to reconstruct, forms of society which existed in an earlier period.", (Oxford University Press, 2009). The SOCTUS decision impacts modern aspects of regulatory agencies that were established in the 1930's and 1940's to help improve the health concerns of the American people. This decision by SCOTUS results in less regulations in regards to the health and well-being of American citizens. In addition, this ruling is a prime example,

“As government expands, liberty contracts"(Ronald Reagan Quotes). Those who know anything about Modern Politics in the United States know that Ronald Reagan is the poster child and founder of today 's Conservatism. Today 's Conservatism is at its core a hybrid between the Conservatism of Theodore Roosevelt and that of the Libertarianism of Thomas Jefferson. Libertarians believe that the Central or Federal government should be as small as possible. As shown in the opening quote from Ronald Reagan he firmly believed that to keep the freedom entitled to us by the Bill of Rights, the People must constrict government to give them as minimal amount of power as possible. Ronald Reagan is certainly a controversial figure in the face of politics. Democrats despise him and Republicans try to mimic his policies on both foreign and domestic stages.