Values

Liberals tend to emphasize individual rights over governmental authority and to leave the economy alone, unless it needs help. More and more, the economy has been controlled by conservative elements and this has tended to squelch free trade and put too many regulations on imports, while allowing special interests avenues of squeezing more revenue out of the citizens by legalizing higher interest rates, putting tariffs on imports, freezing influx of cheap labor even while raising private profits by raising prices (such as for gas) and shipping manufacturing out of the country to where free labor resides.

Where conservatives have traditionally believed in the superiority of the ruling class, today in the United States they have concentrated power and money into smaller numbers of people, corporations and bureaus, and the government is used to protect those interests.

Liberals believe in individual rights, and, as it says in the Preamble, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. In contrast, in the name of protecting the people, Conservatives tend to perpetuate the superiority and wealth of the ruling elite.

Liberals believe in personal success, but they also want to build societies that will be good for future generations by equal distribution of wealth and by giving the "little man" political power. They believe that every citizen should have the ability to make their own decisions and achieve their own success without governmental hindrance. Liberals may agree with libertarians as to individual rights, but they differ from them in that "individual sovereignty" may also reach the extent of anarchy.

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...

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.

Works Cited

Johnson, Paul M. A Glossary of Political Economy Terms. 2005. http://www.auburn.edu/~johnspm/gloss/.

Joe, Cup O. My Two Cents: Conservatism, Libertarianism and Liberalilsm. Jun 18, 2006. http://www.myleftwing.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9543

Lind, Michael. "What Do You Mean by Liberal, Moderate, or Conservative?" Rhode Island Policy Analysis. 2007. http://ripolicyanalysis.org/LibModConsv.html.

Lilie, Stuart a., Maddox, "William S. An Alternative Analysis of Mass Belief Systems: Liberal, Conservative, Populist, and Libertarian." Cato Institute, Policy Analysis. 2001. http://www.umich.edu/~umisl/articles/parties.htm