Compare and contrast between liberalism and conservatism - Essay Example

Liberalism and Conservatism Introduction Liberalism deals with the importance of liberty and equality whereas conservatism emphasises the traditional principles and customs. Liberalism and conservatism are prominent in the current world. America’s political party democrats believe in liberalism whereas republicans believe mostly in conservatism. In most of the countries, these two ideologies are still dominating the political sector in different names and forms. This paper compares and contrasts liberalism and conservatism Liberalism Liberalism can be classified as classical liberalism, progressive liberalism and liberal democrats. Classical Liberals, stresses voluntary association, incentives, and self-interest. They believe that people are bound by their own decisions, agreements, contracts, and so on and which may force them to do unpleasant jobs even for non-financial reasons. Their way of doing things is motivated with high degree of individual freedom. They recognize the rights of others and respect the uncontracted obligations toward others (Dolhenty, Ph.D., 2003). Classical liberals advocate private property. In their opinion owing private property is an individual right as far as the means used to earn the property is right and legal. Individuality and freedom were the most important essentialities for human life as per classical liberals. The interference of the state in individual matters was advocated by classical liberals. Free trade, globalization like modern policies were considered as the brain child of classical liberals. Adam Smith and john Locke like classical liberals believed that the free exchange of goods across countries could bring global peace. They believed that liberty and prosperity were the major human needs. They stressed the worth of individual and their rights more than anything else. Progressive liberals believe that the social and political life needs to be organized and they believe highly in party politics. They share optimism, but little of the substantive philosophy (Marshal, n. d, p.261). For example, India is one of the prominent democratic countries in the world with so many political parties and alliances; all can be termed as progressive liberals at least on papers. Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP), Indian National Congress etc are some of the major parties in India. All these progressive liberals have almost similar philosophies and ideologies on paper, but in practice they differ too much. BJP has some hidden agenda in which they are trying to make India a Hindu country whereas Congress says that they are trying to save the country from the Hindu fundamentalists. Liberal democrats (Lib Dems) are the third group of liberals. They promote social liberalism through constitutional reform, civil liberties, and higher taxes for public services. Liberal Democrats like other liberals opposes the over control of state on individuals; at the same time they do favor a welfare state that which provides enough helps to the individuals. Conservatism Conservatism can be classified into three different groups; traditional conservatism, one- nation conservatism and liberal conservatism. Traditional conservatism believes in natural law and moral principles. They believe that the there are certain natural laws and moral principles which cannot be changed by the human being. For example, religious fundamentalism is not a sin for the conservatives. Moreover, tradition, custom, hierarchy, patriotism, localism regionalism etc are different dimensions of traditional conservatism. For example, the recent Iraq war is cited as the best example of traditional conservatism. George Bush, former president and the leader of the republicans (Conservatives) has cited many reasons for justifying the Iraq war; none of them were accepted by the liberals. Traditional conservatives believe in hierarchy and the election of President George Bush underlines the above principle as he was the successor of his father Bush senior. One-nation conservatism is a political wing of British conservative party. It deals with unity of the people in a nation. It demands the harmony of people irrespective of their religion, culture or social polarizations. They believe that a country cannot progress if it is divided communally. Internal conflicts are major reasons which retard the progress of a country. One-nation conservatism originated in UK and it is modified by the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in order to make it more acceptable to the public. One-nation conservatism failed to attract people earlier and Mrs. Thatcher brought Thatcherism to give more humanitarian look to one-nation conservatism. The core of one-nation conservatism principle is that the fight against poverty in the developing world is the responsibility of all. "The principles of One Nation apply with equal strength to One World and we have an obligation as well as an opportunity that we must not ignore” (What is one nation conservatism?, n. d). One-nation conservatives believe in capitalism, at the same time they underlines their commitment and obligation to help the poor. Benjamin Disraeli (1804 –1881), was a British Conservative statesman and literary figure who served in government for three decades, twice as Prime Minister. He was a strong advocate of one-nation conservatism and in his opinion, preserving of all that is good in constitution is acceptable. He respected property rights and order (Benjamin Disraeli Biography, n. d) Liberal conservatism combines goods of both liberalism and conservatism. Liberal conservatism mainly focussing on slow and cautious progress, maintaining successful solutions and traditions from the past, establishment of values and traditional institutions, humans freedom, capitalism and a free economy/market, small and effective government, personal responsibility for life and future, right of property etc (Liberal conservatism, 2009). Former British Prime Minister and conservative leader Margaret Thatcher succeeded in combining the goods of conservatism and liberalism which commonly known as Thatcherism. Laissez-faire policies strongly oppose any government intervention into business affairs and trade restrictions, minimum wage laws, and product regulation were all viewed as detrimental to a nations economic health (Dhamee, 1996). Laissez-faire policies are alos perceived as part of liberal conservatism. Similarities and differences between liberalism and conservatism High level of individual freedom is the core of classical liberalism whereas liberal conservatism advocates small governmental intervention on individual matters. In other words both are similar as far as individual freedom is concerned. Classical liberalism advocates private property and liberal conservatism also do not deny earning of private property. Liberty and prosperity were the major slogans of classical liberalism. Liberal conservatives also emphasize humans freedom, capitalism and a free economy/market. Progressive liberals are not much keen in doing what they advocate in their manifesto. Most of their principles and policies were lie on paper alone. On the other hand, traditional conservatives believe in natural laws and moral principles. Tradition, custom, hierarchy, patriotism, localism regionalism etc are different dimensions of traditional conservatism whereas progressive liberals will never advocate all those things publicly, but they engage in similar activities privately. References 1. Benjamin Disraeli Biography, (n. d), Retrieved on March 08, 2010 from http://www.biographyonline.net/politicians/uk/benjamin-disraeli.html 2. Dhamee Yousuf (1996), Adam Smiths Laissez-Faire Policies, Retrieved on March 08, 2010 from http://www.victorianweb.org/economics/laissez.html 3. Dolhenty Jonathan, Ph.D., (2003), Classical Liberalism, Libertarianism, and Individualism, Retrieved on March 08, 2010 from http://www.radicalacademy.com/philclassliberalism.htm 4. Liberal conservatism (2009), Retrieved on March 08, 2010 from http://www.conservapedia.com/Liberal_conservatism 5. Marshal Jonathan (n. d), William Graham Sumner: Critic of Progressive Liberalism, Retrieved on March 08, 2010 from http://mises.org/journals/jls/3_3/3_3_2.pdf 6. What is one nation conservatism?, (n. d), Retrieved on March 08, 2010 from http://conservativehome.blogs.com/toryleadership/2005/09/what_is_one_nat_1.html Read More