Today we will look at political ideology and beliefs surrounding the creation of economic and social policies. We will look at which ideology the two major parties align with.
Today we will look at political ideology and beliefs surrounding the creation of economic and social policies. We will look at which ideology the two major parties align with (1:41) and how the Great Depression affected the belief about the role the government should play in the economy(3:22). We will then look at liberal (5:30) and conservative (6:16) ideology with relation to the market and economy. We will then do the same for liberal (7:46) and conservative (7:59) beliefs about social policies.
Today’s question of the day (9:09): Although technically part of the Republican Party, which representative from Kentucky better reflects the ideals of a libertarian?
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Hi and welcome to the APsolute Recap: US Government Edition. Today’s episode will recap Political Parties, Ideology, and Policy Making
Lets Zoom out:
Unit 4 - American Political Ideologies and Beliefs
Topic- 4.7-4.10
Big idea - Competing Policy Making Interests
In a previous episode we looked at the factors that shape public opinion in this country. One of those factors is political ideology, or the beliefs surrounding one’s vision of what society should look like and the role government should play. Today we will look at the ideologies of the two main political parties in the country with a focus on the ideas of the market and social issues.
Lets Zoom in:
As mentioned in previous episodes, the United States is a large and diverse nation, and one’s political beliefs are often shaped by the various experiences of individuals over time. In our episode about social movements, we discussed how movements are a product of their time, and the changing attitudes surrounding previously marginalized groups. The same idea can really be said for all public policies. Not only are policies, a product of their time, they are also a product of which individuals chose to participate in the democratic process as well.
In the US we have two main political parties: Democrats which typically represent more liberal ideological positions and Republicans which represent more conservative ideologies. As mentioned in a previous episode, third parties have a hard time gaining any traction in the United States. This is partially a result of our winner take all system, but also because there isn’t a clear ideological platform for many third party candidates, other than the Green Party.
Let’s consider what liberal and conservative ideology means in terms of both economic and other social policies. First, the market, which also plays a large role in the economy in general. Prior to the Great Depression, the generally accepted approach of the government with regard to the economy was something called laissez-faire, which essentially means hands off. The idea was that the government wasn’t needed to oversee and regulate the economy. Before the Great Depression, the idea was that the economy would regulate itself and would ultimately grow and benefit from a lack of government oversight. This position is still widely held by many libertarians. Most conservatives still favor few regulations compared to their liberal counterparts who think that government regulation of the market is necessary in order to prevent monopolies and corporations from becoming too powerful at the expense of their workers or the general welfare of the public.
During the Great Depression, many governments were forced to re-examine their positions regarding the economy. After two plus years of continued recession, the economy looked no closer to suddenly “correcting” itself, and charities had long since run out of resources to help everyone who needed it. Some places, like the United States, turned to the work of British economist John Maynard Keynes, who argued for the government to get involved in the economy by stimulating demand. The idea is that either through a stimulus package, or directly employing people, putting money into the pockets of people would lead to buying, which in turn would drive demand, and then supply, and ultimately start fixing the unemployment problem as demand continued to grow in a cycle jump started by the government.
This idea came to be known as Keynesian economics and was the idea behind Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. This was a controversial idea at the time because taking on a government deficit was not something that was intentionally done. In fact, concerns about the deficit are still a big divide between liberals and conservatives. Another example of this ideological debate is the minimum wage. Many liberals favor increasing the minimum wage, in support of the Keynesian idea of stimulating demand, while conservatives worry about the effect on businesses. Another example is liberal support of increasing welfare and Medicaid benefits, when many conservatives are against, considering it a government handout.
The United States continued to operate largely on Keynesian ideas until the presidency of Ronald Reagan, when supply side economics rose in popularity. The argument behind this is that by removing regulations on business and allowing them to operate more freely, it would encourage competition and innovation that would ultimately “trickle down” to the working class. Conservatives favor this idea, where the government reduces involvement in the economy, and allows businesses to operate more freely, often giving tax breaks to corporations to help stimulate new investments in the economy. This is also the time when major cuts were made to government programs including welfare, unemployment benefits, and many unions lost protections. The argument was that these were cut in favor of creating a more balanced budget, but fear of the Soviet Union was still strong and the US ended up running a deficit under Reagan anyway when the spending was shifted to the military budget.
Both sides argue their approach is more effective than the other, and depending on what evidence is used, both can make their case. It is generally accepted that Keynes’ approach works faster, but not everyone agrees that it warrants increased government involvement in what can be seen as individual economic choices.
Similar ideological differences are also seen on social issues, but the degree that the government should be involved is reversed. Liberals think that personal privacy should apply to many more issues than conservatives do. For example, liberals tend to support abortion rights and same sex marriage since they view them as personal choices, whereas conservatives see them as moral issues that the government should step in and protect. These two issues in particular are often a source of political debate, as well as the role of the government with regard to education. Often these ideas are initially regulated by the states, and one can see the different regional ideological beliefs of the country. States are often labeled themselves as being largely liberal or conservative.
Remember, that like other issues we discussed, ideologies can change over time, although it often happens more slowly as generational changes occur naturally.
To recap……
In the United States, our two political parties reflect different ideological approaches to the economy and society. Liberals tend to value more government involvement in matters of regulating business and making sure there is economic equality, while conservatives favor letting business operate freely and don’t think it is the role of the government to use its power to provide large social welfare programs.
Coming up next on the Apsolute RecAP US Government Edition: Influences on Voting Part 1
Today’s Question of the day is about libertarians
Question: Although technically part of the Republican Party, which representative from Kentucky better reflects the ideals of a libertarian?