After reading both articles that are located in the Politics section, identify at least 3 key issues for each party and use evidence from the articles to support. Two q
22 Comments
Trey C.
9/20/2013 06:39:37 am
As an independent, I already believe that both the Republican and Democratic parties are rife with issues both ideological and practical that not only sour their public image, but also hinder their own progress, and that of American government policy. As Jonathan Alter hinted at in his article "The State of Liberalism," both parties are "in permanent trench warfare," over their near perfectly opposed policies that neither one is willing to step back from. (What I mean about that is that for every idea one party has, the other one has another idea that completely opposes it, like tax cuts vs. wealth redistribution.)
Reply
Julia B.
9/22/2013 02:19:19 am
There are pros and cons to everything and in Jonathan Alter's The State of Liberalism and in Christopher Caldwell's The State of Conservatism, they point out the cons of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. The first con for the Republican party is that they focus more on the super rich by giving them only 1% tax cuts.
Reply
Bethany Balentine
9/22/2013 04:35:40 am
In “The State of Liberalism” by Johnathan Alter in 2010, he states some main concerns that the modern liberal American has. Alter mentions that Liberals are at a disadvantage because politics within the United States revolve around self-interest. Along with this, there are two different kinds of liberals. There is the Action liberals and the movement liberals. Liberals are concerned with the education of children. They are concerned about this because liberals want the future generations to have an open mind and not have one specific mindset.
Reply
Raegan C.
9/22/2013 07:12:33 am
It would be easy, as an ignorant onlooker devoid of bias, to compare America’s two dominant political systems using single and opposite words: Where Republicans say “No”, Democrats say “Yes”. Where the Conservative says “Small”, the Liberal says “Big”. Of freedom, the republicans prefer “personal” and the democrats prefer “universal”. One word summaries would be the easiest course of description for these two massive political institutions, but it would be erroneous to think about the parties and their platforms in such simplistic terms. They are as diverse and multi-dimensional as the myriad of issues they fight about. Of these, the three biggest issues are social issues, defense, and the economy.
Reply
Maurie
9/22/2013 09:34:12 am
In both of these articles, the conservatives and liberals are both talking about domestic policies, not foreign policies. Conservatives are the people that want less government; they refer back to the constitution, and fight for their individual rights. Liberals are the people that believe, if they put the correct people in place, policies will be brought in that can help everyone. I feel that after these two articles, I will have to agree more with the conservatives.
Reply
Molly R
9/29/2013 07:54:34 am
I agreed with your points, but would've liked to have read the rest of the essay. :) You are a very good writer and that is relevant in this essay.
Reply
Angelique K.
9/23/2013 04:30:02 am
Democrats and republicans are the two dominant political parties in the United States, the citizens of America identify themselves through one of these parties based on their personal beliefs. Each party has their own ideas of how the government should be run, democrats believe in equal rights and freedom for all, while republicans are more focused on someone’s personal interest instead of universal. Due to these reasons democrats are considered liberals and republicans are considered conservatives, and they are both very different in regards to what they believe is best for the country. Disputes between these two parties can go on forever and ever, but the three biggest differences/issues can be found in social issues, foreign affairs, and American economy.
Reply
Georgie P
9/23/2013 05:33:55 am
Conservatism and Liberalism
Reply
Georgie P
9/23/2013 03:46:48 pm
‘more than half of Americans (55 per cent) say they have grown more conservative in the past year’ (Scott Rasmussen and Doug Schoen). This is all well, but though the party they are voting for is not entirely sure of how conservative they are. ‘If conservatives could vote for the Tea Party as a party, they would prefer it to the Republicans’, shows that the Republicans cannot be called a representative party of a Conservative ideology anymore.
Reply
Ryan M
9/23/2013 07:08:36 am
In both articles, the conservatives and liberals are both talking about their policies, and have nothing to do with the foreign ways. The conservatives want a small government and go back to why the framers made the constitution. The liberals believe if they put the right people in the right places. policies can be made to help everyone. Just off of those beliefs alone, I agree more with the conservatives.
Reply
rachelp
9/23/2013 08:24:07 am
Generally speaking Americans are divided up into one of two political groupings, liberal or conservative. One of the first issues that Jonathan Alter brings up in “The State of Liberalism” is that the term, liberalism is poorly defined. Conservatives and others outside of the party tend to refer to Democratic politicians as liberal however they have not actually accepted this name. According to Jonathan Alter in “The State of Liberalism” ““Progressive” is now the self-description of choice for liberals, though it’s musty and evasive.” Since the Republican politicians use the name conservative one would think that democratic politicians would just accept the name, liberal or at least work to clarify its meaning. It is understandable that people do not want to be labeled however it is quite necessary in the political world because people seek clarity. A sub-issue to this is that there is a split in liberalism itself. Not only are the lines of liberalism already blurred, people must be able to effectively understand the “distinction between “action liberals” and “movement liberals” (Pg.1 Par. 4). Another issue that Alter argues the liberalist party is facing is a gap between liberal interests and the interests of the American people. He explains that “politics, at its essence, is about self-interest… liberals must convince a nation of individualists that enlightened self-interest requires mutual interest” (Pg. 1 Par.3). The liberalist party is ultimately challenged with clarifying their interests and views and also trying to have the public accept and support their goals. The split within liberalism certainly does not make the approach to governing any easier. These issues act as background information in the article and are somewhat overshadowed because Alter’s “State of Liberalism” focuses mainly on the domestic issue of the collapse of the middle class. Alter shows the importance of this collapse which took place right when Obama took office, by mentioning “the collapse of the American middle class and the huge transfer of wealth to the already wealthy is the biggest domestic story of our time and a proper focus of liberal energy” (Pg.2 Par.4). In the article Alter explains that the rich keep getting richer. To support this argument Alter gave statistics which focused on the fact that a small number of people hold more wealth than the millions that fall under the majority in America. There good news about the wealth disparity in the United States is that the fix is within the control of the liberals. The inequality of wealth distribution is the “result of politics and policies, which tilted toward the rich beginning in the 1970s and can, with enough effort, be tilted back over time” (Pg. 2 Par.6).
Reply
Georgie P
9/25/2013 02:06:45 am
You did a good job at identifying issues with both parties, and I like that you put the most important issues first :) well done.
Reply
Molly R
9/23/2013 08:54:03 am
Liberalism and conservatism are two very broad topics that each embody the same vicinity when it comes to politics. In politics, they are paralleled to the Democratic and Republican parties. Even though they relate to politics they are two sides of the spectrum. Liberalism and conservatism are antonyms when it refers to politics. Liberalism refers to a viewpoint founded on the ideas of liberty and equality. Conservatism refers to a viewpoint founded on the ideas of traditional social institutions. I, personally, relate more toward the liberalist viewpoint. The unifying factor between these two ideologies is that they each have their own problems.
Reply
Georgie P
9/25/2013 02:08:03 am
You did a great job at explaining the differences between movement and action liberals, and I also liked your conclusion. Good job!
Reply
Stephen M
9/23/2013 09:04:58 am
The Democrats have a lot going for them, but there are some key issues in the party today. First, the party isn’t unified like their opposition is. “Liberals” don’t consider themselves liberals the same way conservatives identify with the title conservative. According to John Alter, “…virtually all Republican politicians call themselves conservative; few Democratic politicians call themselves liberal… Simple ideology routinely trounces nuanced pragmatism, just as emotion so often beats reason…”, which is basically stating that unification provides the backbone, and the strength, for the party; in this case, Democrats have the lower hand. Second, because of their ideology, democrats are unable to resort to the extreme methods that conservatives often do. Alter states “Liberals are also at a disadvantage because politics, at its essence, is about self-interest, an idea that at first glance seems more closely aligned with conservatism”, and because self-intrest will always be a stronger motivator than mutual intrest, the conservatives will have more and stronger backing from their supporters, as well as stronger motivation. Finnaly, Democrats, having got Obama into office, have seemingly lost some of their intrest in promoting their goals. An example would be the health care act. Alter says “One reason health care reform stalled in the summer of 2009 was that Tea Party forces turned up en masse at town meetings in swing districts while liberals stayed home, convinced that after electing Obama they were free to go on Miller Time”, which shows that the democrats held the beliefs that they “had won” the battle between conservatism and liberalism.
Reply
Beau T.
9/24/2013 03:04:13 am
The two writers Johnathan Alter, “The State of Liberalism”, and Christopher Caldwell, "The State of Conservatism", make valid points why it is beyond a doubt that we will never have an idealistic government. There are many flaws in the government but more specifically their are a few between Liberalism and Conservatism. The main difference between the two is, "Liberals believe in government action to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all", while "Conservatives believe in personal responsibility, limited government, free markets, individual liberty, traditional American values and a strong national defense." But going into more depth of what the two represent and some of their key issues, one might find it hard to pick a side with all the faulty knowledge.
Reply
Hope
9/24/2013 06:51:48 pm
Liberalism and Conservatism are essentially polar opposites, liberals and conservatives rarely, if ever, share the same view on a political topic. They are constantly opposing each other, any idea or belief that a liberal promotes, you count on a conservative to disagree and vice versa.
Reply
Molly R
9/29/2013 07:52:16 am
I liked how you organized your paper, but make sure not to forget parenthetical citations. I think that your paper could've benefitted from a solid thesis, besides just the fact that liberalism and conservatism are polar opposites. You are a very good writer though, and I enjoyed reading your piece.
Reply
Gabrielle L
9/29/2013 12:03:44 am
America is mostly split politically between liberalism and conservatism. Each faction has their own unique flaws.
Reply
Buse D.
9/29/2013 04:08:08 am
The two essential concepts that govern political thought and create policies are conservatism and liberalism. Liberalism supports a more active role of government, policies to help minorities and the disadvantaged. Conservatism supports a greater trust on the free market in which the disadvantaged can support themselves, and lower taxes.
Reply
Darel M
10/10/2013 11:28:22 pm
The conservatives and liberals talk about their policies, in both their essays.The conservatives want a small government and want go back to the reason why framers created the constitution for us. The liberals believe that if they put the right people in the field of work that suits their talents, then policies can be made to benefit everyone. Just off of those beliefs alone, I agree more with the liberals.
Reply
Angela B.
10/15/2013 05:16:39 am
Liberalism v Conservatism
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
August 2015
Categories |
|