Conservative vs. Liberal -- Which Side Are YOU On?

Conservatism is a political and social term from the Latin verb conservare meaning to save or preserve.[http://books.google.com/books?id=I0QINMoSGykC&pg=PA114&dq=etymology+conservative+conservare&as_brr=3]Freedom and Consumerism: A Critique of Zygmunt Bauman's Sociology

By Mark Davis, Zygmunt Bauman

Edition: revised

Published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008

ISBN 0754672719, 9780754672715

189 pages page 114 As the name suggests it usually indicates support for tradition and traditional values though the meaning has changed in different countries and time periods. The modern political term conservative was used by French politician Chateaubriand in 1819.The Scary Echo of the Intolerance of the French Revolution in America Today In Western politics, the term conservatism often refers to the school of thought started by Edmund Burke and similar thinkers.BBC: Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797) Scholar R. J. White wrote: "To put conservatism in a bottle with a label is like trying to liquify the atmosphere ? The difficulty arises from the nature of the thing. For conservatism is less a political doctrine than a habit of mind, a mode of feeling, a way of living."As part of introduction to The Conservative Tradition, ed. R.J. White (London: Nicholas Kaye, 1950) Russell Kirk considered conservatism "the negation of ideology"."10 Conservative Principles"

Conservative political parties have diverse views; the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan, the Republican Party in the United States, the Conservative Party in Britain, the Liberal Party of Australia, and the Bharatiya Janata Party in India are all considered major conservative parties with varying positions.

Liberalism is a broad class of political philosophies that considers individual liberty and equality to be the most important political goals.A: "'Liberalism' is defined as a social ethic that advocates liberty, and equality in general." ? C. A. J. (Tony) Coady Distributive Justice, A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy, editors Goodin, Robert E. and Pettit, Philip. Blackwell Publishing, 1995, p.440. B: "Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end." ? Lord Acton

Liberalism emphasizes individual rights and equality of opportunity. Within liberalism, there are various streams of thought which compete over the use of the term "liberal" and may propose very different policies, but they are generally united by their support for political liberalism, which encompasses support for: freedom of thought and speech, limitations on the power of governments, the rule of law, an individual's right to private property,Oxford Manifesto 1997 and a transparent system of government.Compare for the latter aspect the Oxford Manifesto of 1947 of the Liberal International (Respect for the language, faith, laws and customs of national minorities), Oxford Manifesto of 1997 (We believe that close cooperation among democratic societies through global and regional organizations, within the framework of international law, of respect for human rights, the rights of national and ethnic minorities, and of a shared commitment to economic development worldwide, is the necessary foundation for world peace and for economic and environmental sustainability), the ELDR Electoral programme 1994 (Protecting the rights of minorities flows naturally from liberal policy, which seeks to ensure equal opportunities for everyone) and, e.g., I have a dream of Martin Luther KingLiberalism in America: A Note for Europeans by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. (1956)

from: The Politics of Hope (Boston: Riverside Press, 1962)Harry K. Girvetz and Minogue Kenneth. Liberalism, Encyclopedia Britannica (online), p. 1, retrieved June 19,2006 All liberals, as well as some adherents of other political ideologies, support some variant of the form of government known as liberal democracy, with open and fair elections, where all citizens have equal rights by law.Compare the Oxford Manifesto of the Liberal International (These rights and conditions can be secured only by true democracy. True democracy is inseparable from political liberty and is based on the conscious, free and enlightened consent of the majority, expressed through a free and secret ballot, with due respect for the liberties and opinions of minorities)

According to author and philosophy professor Peter Vallentyne, "Liberalism comes in two broad forms. Classical liberalism emphasizes the importance of individual liberty and contemporary (or welfare) liberalism tends to emphasize some kind of material equality."Vallentyne, Peter. "Libertarianism and the State." Liberalism: Old and New. Eds. Jeffrey Paul, Fred D. Miller. Cambridge University Press, 2007. p. 187 In Europe, the term "liberalism" is closer to the economic outlook of American economic conservatives. According to Harry Girvetz and Minoque Kenneth "contemporary liberalism has come to represent different things to Americans and Europeans: In the United States it is associated with the welfare-state policies of the New Deal program of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whereas in Europe liberals are more commonly conservative in their political and economic outlook".Harry K. Girvetz and Minogue Kenneth. Liberalism, Encyclopedia Britannica (online) In the United States, "liberalism" is most often used in the sense of social liberalism, which supports some regulation of business and other economic interventionism which they believe to be in the public interest. A philosophy holding a position in accordance with Adam Smith, that laissez-faire economics will bring about a spontaneous order or an invisible hand that benefits the society, is referred to as "classical liberalism."Razeen Sally, Classical Liberalism and International Economic Order: Studies in Theory and Intellectual History (London: Routledge, 1998), 17 (ISBN 0-415-16493-1). "Hence the normative core of classical liberalism is the approbation of economic freedom or laissez-faire—Adam Smith's 'obvious and simple system of natural liberty'—out of which spontaneously emerges a vast and intricate system of cooperation in exchanging goods and services and catering for a plenitude of wants.", of which US-style libertarianism may be considered an extreme example.

Liberalism has its roots in the Age of Enlightenment and rejects many foundational assumptions that dominated most earlier theories of government, such as the Divine Right of Kings, hereditary status, established religion, and economic protectionism.Free Trade and Liberal England, 1846-1946 By Anthony HoweIdeologies and Political Theory By Michael FreedenThe Cambridge Economic History of Europe by Peter Mathias, John Harold Clapham, Michael Moïssey Postan, Sidney Pollard, Edwin Ernest Rich, Eileen Edna Power, H. J. Habakkuk Instead, it founds itself on the assumption of the equal dignity and worth of individuals.

Modern liberal thought originated in and influenced the politics of The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France. The first modern liberal state was the United States of America,Paul E. Sigmund, editor, The Selected Political Writings of John Locke, Norton, 2003, ISBN 0393964515 p. iv "(Locke's thoughts) underlie many of the fundamental political ideas of American liberal constitutional democracy...", "At the time Locke wrote, his principles were accepted in theory by a few and in practice by none." founded on the principle that "all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to insure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.

Liberalism in its broadest sense is arguably the dominant ideology of the Western World, where mainstream political debate is held largely within the realm of accepted liberal principles such as government by consent, rationalism, freedom of speech etc, and these principles being accepted and prized by parties across the political spectrum.