Comparing liberalism, libertarianism, and conservatism ideologies

Liberals/Conservatives/Libertarians

Liberalism, libertarianism, or Conservativism?

In order to figure out what kind of stance the writer takes, first the writer had to look up what the terms "Liberal," "Conservative" and "Libertarianism" are in Dr. Paul Johnson's Glossary of Political Economy Terms. Dr. Johnson says Liberals support a broad interpretation of civil liberties, freedom of expression and religious tolerance and for public participation in the political process which today is defined as an ideology that stands for:

civil liberties and personal freedom issues but... supporting a much stronger role for government in regulating and manipulating the private economy and providing public support for the economically and socially disadvantaged, though still stopping well short of full socialism (Dr. Johnson 12).

Conservatives appear to be the opposite of Liberals. Maddox and Lilie's book on American ideologies, says that conservatism is a political perspective characterized by increasing support for an activist government that uses intervention to enforce traditional morality or social values in addition to intense opposition to an activist government in economic or business affairs (Lilie 5). Conservatives have a "preference for the existing order of society and an opposition to all efforts to bring about rapid or fundamental change in that order" (Johnson 3).

Libertarians, as defined by Dr. Johnson, believe any government should be as small as possible and should play as little as possible role in the economic, social and cultural life of citizens, "with social relationships to be regulated as much as possible by voluntary contracts and generally accepted custom and as little as possible by statute law" (Johnson 12).

In other words, libertarians believe that the individual should be as free as possible from government regulation in the economic and non-economic aspects of life. So, libertarians stress private property rights, a laissez-faire capitalist economic system, the separation of church and state, and the individual's rights to freedom of expression, freedom of choice and a private lifestyle. Governments should not redistribute income, regulate values through public schools and governmental propaganda outlets, and the government-should not censor anything, impose criminal penalties for "victimless crimes" by and large, all forms of social, economic or cultural "engineering" by the government is condemned by libertarians (Lind 2).

Why Liberalism is Superior

William Maddox and Stuart Lilie in their classic 1981 paper "An Alternative Analysis of Mass Belief Systems" (which was later published as a book titled Beyond Liberal and Conservative) (Lind 3) noted that voters deal with the economy (and how much the state should involve itself in it to ensure smooth functioning or limit the inequality that unchecked capitalism tends to produce) and the social and cultural dimension (to what extent the state should concern itself with citizen's behavior). This means that the difference between stances depends on how voters deal with the issue of tolerance of individual differences in behavior and whether it is equal to other considerations.

Liberals don't mind the state intervening in the economy, but do not like governmental intervention in non-economic behavior. John Stuart Mill stated that he does not believe the economy is naturally self-righting (such as in the Great Depression), but that it is an enabler of individual freedom. The Liberal and I believe government is responsible for its citizens' welfare and the smooth operation of the government for the purpose of righting social/cultural wrongs.

Alternative Stances

Conservatives, on the other hand, believe that any intervention in the economy, besides bolstering its present state, is wrong, and intervention will probably make things worse. They see economic freedom is preceded by social order. (Lind 7). Conservatives do not ask themselves what the limits of markets are (and if they go to extremes so that they need rescuing if not controlled) and why some behavior is deemed sufficiently intolerable or unworthy of affirmation.

Libertarians (not the party of the same name) believe that, following John Locke and John Stuart Mill's lead, government should play only a nominal role in either economic or social/cultural affairs. To them, "the least government is the best government" (Lind 8). Libertarians must ask themselves what community rights are legitimate, in contrast to individual rights? Libertarians tend to weigh these matters and though they tend to give more authority to the community (government) over the individual, they must also weigh individual rights ensured by the Constitution (Lind 18).

Beliefs

Liberals believe as I do, that humans live in a community that has, but should not have, strata (sometimes called "classes"). There should not be abject poor or filthy rich in existence as there are in this country today. Even though all are not equal in handling finances, everyone ought to be able to live in moderately secure and healthy personal surroundings, with enough food to eat and access to doctors, with a job and an income that is sufficient for the needs of the family. Socialism is an experiment that was tried and failed as Communism, but succeeded to some extent in other countries. There must and will be free trade (no matter what restrictions are put upon it), but outside of that, the resources of a government should be used for the betterment of its citizens. People living in a society should be able to reap the rewards of their labors and not be held down by low wages, avoidable poor health or lack of resources. They should not be segmented into races, creeds, sex or ages and discriminated against for any of these unavoidable or chosen characteristics.

Conclusion

The liberal philosophy lives by one word, balance. Our Founding Fathers created a system of checks and balances of power that to prevent too much power from falling into the hands of a few. (Joe 9-11). Today, liberals also want to balance out corporate and private interests in this and other countries by having the government see that these outside interests do not overpower or press their demands too hard on the individual. There are balances in the fields of cooperation and competition on every level, between private and public institutions and primarily on the rights and needs of the individual compared to the demands of the entire society. The dreams of the ordinary man are to be free to live and have enough so that the pursuit of happiness can become an actual reality.