Political Ideology Simplified
Most political positions can be described using a limited set of political terms related to classical and social liberalism and conservatism.
Liberalism and Conservatism
Liberalism is the ideology of liberty and equality, conservatism is the ideology of authority, hierarchy, tradition, and order.
Liberalism is a political philosophy based on the principles of liberty and equality that grew out of the Age of Enlightenment.
If you don’t want the King or Church taking your life, liberty, and property, if instead you believe you have “the right” of “consent”… you might be a liberal.
Likewise, conservatism is the opposition philosophy of liberalism. It is the check that balances liberalism.
both liberalism and conservatism come in classical and social forms and speak to issues of state, social issues, and economics. In terms of economics there are also classical and social forms of liberal and conservative economics.
There are a number of different forms of liberalism and conservatism which each denote differing ideologies, but they generally all share core principles (like all liberal ideologies share basic liberal and left-wing planks and all conservative ideologies generally share basic conservative and right-wing planks).
With the above said:
- Liberalism is generally understood as an ideology containing the principles of democracy, republicanism, separation of powers, popular sovereignty, free speech, free trade, freedom of religion, and other general ideologies that favor human rights and the liberties and the well being of individuals and groups.
- Conservatism is the ideology of governmental, cultural, and economic order, tradition, hierarchy, and authority that seeks to keep to the old ways and use authority to ensure order.
- Somewhat confusingly, in the social forms, social conservatism tends to want to conserve back to some classical liberal values and social liberalism tends to embrace the authority of the state to ensure social welfare. Thus their left-right ideologies are somewhat mixed in the social form.
What is Social Conservatism?
Social Conservatism is the ideology of social hierarchy and tradition that mixes liberal and conservative views. It comes in political and economic forms.
What is Classical Conservatism?
Classical Conservatism is the ideology of authority, hierarchy, order, and tradition (like classical aristocracy). It comes in political and economic forms.
What is Social Liberalism?
Social liberalism is the ideology of collective liberties and rights that favors social welfare and justice. It comes in a political and economic form.
What is Classical Liberalism?
Classical liberalism is the ideology of liberties, rights, individualism, reason, and tolerance that comes in a political and economic form.
Neoliberalism Explained
Neoliberalism is an economically-minded evolution of classical liberalism focused on deregulation, trade, and the private market. It is a “middle way” or “third way” between liberalism and conservatism.
What is the Difference Between Logic and Reason?
Reason and logic are two closely related forms of thinking involving the comparison of terms that can be studied in terms of mathematics or philosophy and can be considered together as well as apart.
Modern, Historic, and General Social Class Systems
All nations have some sort of class system or class structure, generally based on wealth, birth, or status. We explain modern and historic social class systems and the general logic behind them to see to what extent they are natural and what extent they are convention.
The Importance of Individualism
We discuss the importance of individualism and the complexities involved in balancing the spirit of Individualism with collective responsibility.
What is Conservatism?
Conservatism is the ideology of governmental, cultural, and economic order, tradition, hierarchy, and authority that generally comes in classical, social, and economic forms.