In the United States of America politics, an abiding issue has whether one is a liberal or conservative. However, before then, the main political differences were between individualism and collectivism. The differences between the liberals and conservative have been very pronounced in economic, religious, political, and social arena. Thus, this essay evaluates the differences between liberals and conservative, then, there, and now.
In the early day, or During the Declaration of Independence, there was no much talk about liberal and conservatism, but the main political discussion mainly involved differences between individualism and collectivism. Thomas Jefferson required people to pursue their individual happiness, through the individualism, that was popularly regarded as a classical liberalism. The classical liberalism believed on liberty. The classical liberals were mainly regarded to as reformers. The classical liberals believed in relative price stability, unlimited economic growth, relative international peace, political liberty, and economic liberty. Those who opposed individualism advocated for collectivism, which was regards as classical conservatives. Collectivism mostly requires that one has an obligation to live life as the community or state demands (Goodman, 2016). Then, individuals were supposed to engage in activities that made the person happy. On the contrary, the collective ideology required persons to engage in activities that were aligned to interests of the community.
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As the American political arena advanced, the liberal and conservatives emerged as sociologies instead of ideologies. Presently, liberalism is neither completely allied to individualistic nor collectivist. The modern liberals’ belief that an individual should make independent decisions irrespective of whether it offends others. The independence is regards speech or publishing; but mostly do not advocate for ideology of economic rights (Haidt, 2013). The modern liberals advocate for independent decisions and the government should not infringe the privacy of its subjects. Thus, it is a strong proponent of pro-choice, while rejecting the special interest legislation per se. however, they belief that economic regulation and special interest legislation should be proposed by democratic political institutions rather than courts. Modern liberals also agree that anyone can engage in any preferred sexual activity.
The modern conservatism sociology believes in the economic rights whereby one can sell the products or services to any willing buyer at an agreed price. The modern conservatives advocate for restricted freedom of expression and thought. There vast government controls on noneconomic liberties. Although the classical conservatives advocated for a state that did not have a state religion and religion was separated from politics. On the contrary, the modern conservatives impose their religious views on the culture of their electorates.
There exists no similarities between the way think nor conservatives. Thus, the differences between sociologies will continue to get advanced even in the future. While each sociology tried to develop a politically correct stand, the emergence of special interests groups continues to influence the United States of America political arena. The world is getting complex day after day and new challenges will continue to emerge. Thus, the conservatives and liberals will have to find a political stand in regards to the emerging issues.
References
Goodman, J. C. (2016). Classical Liberalism vs. Modern Liberalism and Modern Conservatism. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=U21BxGfm3RUC&dq=Liberals+vs.+Conservatives:+Then,+There,+and+Now&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y
Haidt, J. (2013). The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion . New York: Vintage Books.
