Friday, May 15, 2009
Anyone who listens to radio, watches television or reads newspapers has heard the terms “conservatism” and “liberalism” being spoken and/or written by journalists belonging to all mediums. My personal take is that the majority of Americans do not fully understand the meanings of these two widely used expressions. I’ve read various complicated definitions of liberalism and conservatism, but it’s clear to me that the meanings of the terms are actually extremely simple. Liberals hold to a general ideology that government can and should be actively involved in solving societal problems. Conservatives believe the opposite; that government should have very little involvement; that individuals can and should be responsible for solving their own problems. Generally speaking, the issue involves the size of government, which directly affects the role of government.
Although the differentiation between these designations are cut and dried, there are unfair stereotypes associated with people that describe themselves as liberal and those that call themselves conservative. For example, some believe that all conservatives are dull, religious traditionalists and all liberals are easy-going, pot-smoking hippies. But what do these generalizations have to do with one’s preference concerning the ideal amount of government? Nothing! These descriptions are cliché, but they often do not apply. Even so, it’s easy to compare and contrast these two groups of people by carefully and responsibly examining the issues of which they promote and those of which they oppose. The paragraphs to follow contain my attempt to do as such.
Conservatives are often regarded as being patriotic in that they appreciate the foundation laid out by the politicians who fabricated our constitution. This is not to say that conservatives believe that liberals are not patriotic. It’s very uncommon to meet a member of any American group who speaks negatively about the governmental ideals put forth by our forefathers. Nonetheless, liberals typically express their ideas as “improvements” to a system that they believe must evolve in order to accommodate a country that is constantly changing. Conservatism holds to the mantra, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In other words, a conservative might say that this country was built on traditional values, personal freedoms and economic systems such as capitalism that have helped us become what we are today and it doesn’t make sense to start doing the opposite just for the sake of change.
One thing that has changed recently is the state of the economy. It is painfully clear that conservatives and liberals have different views as to what actions might be instrumental in “fixing” the economy. Many liberals have adopted the philosophy of John Maynard Keynes, a British economist whose career peaked during the time of The Great Depression. Basically, his idea, which was not adopted at the time, was to offset a crippled economy through increased, targeted government spending. Keynes believed that this would help the economy because the extra money being spent by the government would benefit American companies, which would benefit American workers who would be able to work for the companies that were being patronized by the government. President Barack Obama, a liberal, has adopted a similar approach with his nearly $1 trillion “stimulus” package. Among conservatives, it is widely believed that such spending is irresponsible, especially during an economic crisis; that any kind of federal stimulus should come in the form of tax cuts for all tax-paying Americans. The main conservative argument is that if the government allows Americans to keep more of their own money, they will soon start to spend more money, boosting the economy. Conservatives are particularly upset about the current stimulus package because they believe that we and our children and our grandchildren will be paying the price for this spending for many years to come.
There are several rather controversial issues on which conservatives and liberals strongly disagree. Among them are abortion, capital punishment and same-sex marriage. These are issues that don’t necessarily have anything to do with the size of government. Nonetheless, liberals and conservatives seem to have clear-cut positions in regard to these subjects. It must be noted, however, that these are not the issues that define people as liberal or conservative. It is perfectly valid for a conservative to hold the general liberal view on this sort of topic and vice versa.
In general, conservatives see abortion as a violation of the rights of an unborn child. Liberals regard abortion as a woman’s right to eliminate a parasite that is growing inside her own body. This particular matter has become exceedingly heated because of the fact that emotion-based opinions are understandably involved. Both sides agree that murder is wrong, so this issue has become an argument over the definition of murder. It is the popular liberal opinion that killing an unborn child is not murder. Conservatives wholeheartedly disagree. They hold that an unborn child is a living human being and should have a right to survive regardless of his or her mother’s decisions.
Capital punishment is supported by many conservatives, who feel that those who do not abide by certain rules set forth by our constitution should be eliminated if found guilty after a fair trial. Liberals customarily oppose capital punishment on the basis that they believe that the unlawful citizen can and should be rehabilitated by the government. Some liberals believe that the government fails to provide some citizens with what they need in order to avoid acting out through crime. Conversely, conservatives may feel that it isn’t the job of the government to rehabilitate criminals; that they should do for themselves rather than using up taxpayer funds for a process that rarely results in a true rehabilitation.
A third and equally controversial topic is that of the allowance of same-sex marriage in our country. Those that are of the opinion that the definition of marriage should retain its description of being between one man and one woman, can usually be described as politically conservative. Liberals tend to disagree. The standard liberal feeling is that government should not be involved in such a personal decision; that same-sex couples should be given the same benefits as those that are involved in traditional man-woman marriages. Although it varies, my experience has been that conservatives are mostly okay with another institution, such as a civil union, as long as the definition of marriage is not changed.
What this comes down to is a matter of vision. Political ideology is about how a person sees their country in its ideal condition. The ways in which conservatives and liberals are different are easy to point out. In terms of ideology, similarities among the two are few and far between. Be that as it may, non-ideological parallels are certainly evident. Case in point, both sides believe that they hold the solution to the majority of the nation’s problems. Also, both sides are lacking in some way in that each side avoids certain issues altogether. In addition, liberals and conservatives alike are practicing their rights as Americans to express their views concerning government. This is a privilege that is not realized in many other countries. Most importantly, it is plain to me that both groups love their country, which is a comparison well worth noting.
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