Political Science

Generic Liberal

means you are OK with the concept of change from the status quo.

Generic Conservative

means you are uncomfortable with change; it bothers you.

Democracy isn’t an ideology because…

It’s not expansive enough in scope to be an ideology.  It’s too narrow.  

Nationalism isn’t an ideology because…

Nationalism is an emotional attachment to a particular group of people.  As such, it doesn’t cover as much as an ideology would. 

Virtually all ideologies grapple with the notion of power by asking themselves…

Who has it?

Who should have it?

What is power’s legitimacy based upon?

Ideologies involve big ideas like…

Right or wrong.

Fairness.

Power.

Ideologies Are Important Because…

those ideas are based on beliefs and values that we have.

What is Politics??

Who gets what when not everyone can have it.

Oligarchy

rule by, not just elites, but a relatively small group of elites

Ideologies

Interrelated sets of beliefs and values that we use to understand the world around us

Thomas Dye’s book Who’s Running America argues that:

Big institutions run America, and those who control THOSE institutions are drawn from a small elite.

Elites

those with a large amount of money and/or influence

Think Tanks

a private research institution dedicated to making changes in the government.

3 kinds of Liberals

Traditional. Welfare. Neoclassical/ Libertarian

Limited Government origins

began with the Magna Carta in 1215 CE. States that a person would have to be charged with a crime and judged by a group of his peers.

Three Principles of Traditional Liberalism

Limited Government, Individual Freedom, Capitalism

Individual Freedom

People should be free to do what they want as long as it doesn’t harm others.

Capitalism

Free market and the laws of supply and demand. If you’re good at it, capitalism rewards you. If not, it punishes you.

Welfare Liberalism Origins

Created through FDR’s New Deal, the government would help those in need who were unable to help themselves at that time.

Welfare Liberalism

Help people in marginalized groups who cannot meet their own needs in a capitalist, free-market economy. Helping those against things beyond their control.

Neoclassical Liberalism/ Libertarian

Are an extreme version of traditional liberalist with VERY limited government.

(Limited government, Individual Freedom, Capitalism.)

Neoclassical Liberalism/ Libertarian

Thought Process

Why pay taxes for public services that THEY personally may/will never use in their life.

Neoclassical Liberalism/ Libertarian Mottos

Individual Freedom as long as no one is hurt.

No taxes for public services they won’t use.

Individual responsibility for their own actions and the following consequences.

The Five Different types of Conservatives.

Traditional. Individualist. Fiscal. Neoconservative. Social.

The main person behind Traditional Conservatism

Edmund Burke, Society is like an organism.

Edmund Burke’s Ideas

Why is change necessary?

Elitism

Society is like an Organism

Edmund Burke’s elitism

some of us are better able to lead than others

Society is like an organism

People should stick to what SOCIETY has dictated they should do.

Traditional Conservative Societies Today

Saudi Arabia. Iran

Today’s American Conservatives

Generally, focus on Limited Government, Individual Freedom, Capitalism, but they may disagree on which ones they emphasize most.

Individualist Conservatives

Prioritize personal freedom from government overreach

Important Individual Conservatives

Barry Goldwater (Presidential Nominee), Margaret Thatcher (British Prime Minister), Ronald Reagan (“Government is the problem,” not the solution)

Fiscal Conservatism

Don’t tax more than absolutely necessary; don’t like taxes. Main concern is the US’s national debt. Smaller government by starving it of money.

Important Fiscal Conservatism Faces

Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul

Neoconservatism

Agree that people face obstacles not of their own making, but want to help these people by helping them acquire soft skills.

Social Conservatism

Believe we are successful when we all embody the same exact values. Don’t like a multi-cultural society with differing morals and values. They want to they want to make government stronger to limit individual freedom by imposing their values on others.

Two kinds of Socialism

Democratic Socialism. Revolutionary Socialism.

They agree on the problem but not the solution.

British Labour Party

formed out of the trade union movement as the 20th century began. Stressed government ownership of largest employers in the country. resulted in better quality of life for workers.

Socialist Economy

would have heavy government involvement in owning major employers and their shares to control what they do.

Democratic Socialism

using the power of the government to care for the general public, which capitalism was not designed to do. accomplished peacefully via elections.

Products of Democratic Socialism

Products created by government-owned manufacturers are not good products, this led to zero company innovation which causes a poor economy. Workers were saved but competitors of them prospered.

Main poster child for democratic socialism

Greece

For many like the US, how can the government provide benefits and services the public wants without raising taxes so much that the public rebels?

to borrow the money for popular benefits/services instead of raising taxes. (creates more US focus on debt service instead of defense, housing, etc.)

New Faces of Democratic Socialism

Bernie Sanders, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Zohran Mamdani

New Democratic Socialist Goals

Publicly-funded national health insurance.

Eradicate student debt

Slash government spending on Defense Department

Main Face of Revolutionary Socialism

Karl Marx

Karl Marx’s Ideas

prescribed a violent revolution by the working class to overthrow the capitalist system and install a government for the workers.

Dictatorship of the Proletariat

the rule by the working class

Marx’s Stages of History

Marx believed history has a status quo (a thesis, capitalism), will be challenged (the antithesis, revolution) and this clash will create a new status quo (synthesis, Socialism). This would lead to a utopian society called Communism, where all human needs are met without a government.

Revolutionary Socialist

promotes revolutionary violence to make the government bigger to improve the lives of most of the people by meeting public needs.

Vladimir Lenin

a Russian revolutionary, follower of Marx, rallied Russians to overthrow the regime of Tsar Nicholas II. Created the Communist Party and took control of the Soviet Union.

Pulled his country out of WWI.

Died in 1923. Passing on control of the Soviet Union to his aide, Joseph Stalin.

October Revolution

1917, Russians revolting against the regime of Tsar Nicholas II. Lasted 4 years with some US intervention. The Russians won led by Vladimir Lenin.

Joseph Stalin

assumed control of the Soviet Party from Lenin, and moved to a Command Economy.

Convinced the Soviet Union he was the ONLY option to lead the USSR, thus there was no reason to question his leadership. The Cult of Personality.

Created the first modern police state. Rooted out citizens deemed disloyal to the state for their complaints or criticisms of Stalin or his rule.

Purged the nation of anyone who was not loyal to him or could be a rival

Command Economy

Doesn’t rely on supply and demand. Begins with a national bureaucracy that decides what products/goods/services were needed and where.

Allowed the state to invest wherever they liked. First priority was national defense due to high tensions against communism.

Command Economy Negatives

Consumer goods came in last priority. Stalin focused on feeding people mostly bread and vodka.

You bought what was available, not what you wanted or needed.

Poor quality of products. If you worked harder, your quota would be higher next year. Created a minimalist approach to your job.

Lack of innovation led to lack of technological evolution, Soviets missed out on the electronic miniaturization and computer revolution.

Led to the fall of the Soviet Union

Mikhail Gorbachev

the last Soviet leader. Attempted to allow public input into the Command Economy. Led to neither a full capitalist or command economy, which failed.

Collapse of USSR

In 1991, The USSR fragmented into 15 separate countries. Which caused a lack of trust between the separate independent countries within the Union.

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Fell ultimately due to inability of its economy to grow sufficiently to meet human needs.

Fascism

emphasizes the importance of the group. Individuals get their sense of personal value from the group to which they belong.

praising your groups’ virtues as so much better than other groups and seeing other groups as evil/less deserving.

Us vs. Them.

Glorifies violence

This and Communism are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to motivation.

Fascism Origins

18th Century Enlightenment Era gave us political ideologies based on individual reason

Counter-Enlightenment sought to balance the influence of reason with intuition and emotion.

Conservative writers, like Edmund Burke, emphasized loyalty to the group over the importance of individual choice or success

Benito Mussolini

poster child of fascism, in power of Italy from 1922-1943.

emphasized Italian descent from the Romans.

Adolf Hitler

poster child of fascism, student of Mussolini, in power of Germany from 1933-1945.

Emphasized Germanic tribes defeating Roman Empire. True Germans descended from the Aryan race. These were who he claimed wer