Chapter TWO
Modern Ideologies and Political Philosophy
I. Ideologies
Ideology is a set of ideas that are related and that modify one another; that is, an organized set of ideas about something.
From the personal point of view, an ideology helps us to make sense reasonably easily and quickly of the varied political questions that come to our attention.
Publicly, in politics, we are typically concerned to convince others that a policy we favor is the right one.
Ideologies are developed and maintained because of their usefulness to individuals in responding to events and their utility in public political agument.
II. American Ideologies
Tend to be more loosely organized
2 main ideologies:
American liberalism is the rather loose ideology known in the United States as "conservatism." It is a variant of the more general ideology of liberalism and has relatively little to do with the more general ideology of conservatisms; it is particularly suspicious of governmental intervention to make people more equal but is often wiling to entrust government with power to maintain morality.
A portrait of Karl Marx.
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
English: US political ideology trends 1992-2011American conservatism is the rather loose ideology known in the US as "liberalism." It is only a variant of the more generally ideology of liberalism; it is particularly concerned to make people equal, and it is relatively willing to entrust government with power to bring this about; it is also particularly concerned to maintain freedom of expression.
Compared with American Conservatism, American liberalism is: more concerned about inequality, more inclined to use the power of the government to make conditions for people more equal (liberals are more willing to see a larger government, supplied by higher taxes), more inclined generally to use the power of the government to achieve a diverse set of things they view as good ends, less concerned about maintenance of public values...