Political Ideology

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Political Ideology

• Notes

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Ideology Defined

• Ideology is a set of basic beliefs about life,
  culture, government, and society.
• A political ideology provides the framework for
  looking at government and public policy.

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Ideology

• Most Americans dont follow a strict ideology,
  but rather decide their position on an issue by
  issue basis.
• Inconsistency Many people might favor lower
  taxes AND better schools and services.
• Its never good to make generalizations about what
  a certain group thinks

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Liberal Left-ist

• A person with liberal ideology believes that the
  national government should be active in helping
  individuals and communities.
• Respect civil/individual liberties/rights.
• Every segment of society gets a fair deal.
• Traditionally viewed as the group that favors
  change and new ideas

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Conservative Right-ist

• A conservative believes the role of government in
  society should be very limited.
• Individuals should be responsible for their own
  well-being.
• Government should not solve social problems, but
  private institutions should.
• Traditionally viewed as the group that avoided
  change

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Moderates

• Moderates opinions fall somewhere between
  liberal and conservative.
• 40 of Americans claim to be moderate.

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Some Comparisons

• Death Penalty
• Liberals against it
• Conservatives for it
• Defense/Military Spending
• Liberals -- decrease or maintain amount
• Conservatives increase amount
• Minimum Wage
• Liberals increase it
• Conservative lower or eliminate it

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Radical Far Left

• Believe society exploits people and want to
  drastically change society in order to change it.
• Example group anarchists, Earth First

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Reactionary Far Right

• Strongly conservative
• Small minority of people
• Solve societys problems by going back to an
  earlier time or use religious based solutions

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Libertarians

• Center-Right side of spectrum
• Believe in a very small government whose role is
  limited to defense and resolving disputes
• Do not want any gov. involvement in economics or
  society