Liberalism: liberal democratic ideology

A very textbook intro to liberalism as a political theory. No affiliation to any representative party is made. This is an introductory video of what the liberal ideology (that is liberalism as a philosophy, not political party) means. Regardless of your political party affiliation in the western world, you most likely fall into this particular world view.
That's right! Even if you're a Republican or Democrat; Liberal or Conservative; Leftist or Rightist, you are a follower of liberal ideology. I hope this video makes it clearer.

*My apologies, there is a typo in one of the slides. The word should be 'formed' not 'forme'.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• liberal
• democrat
• democracy
• philosophy
• ideology
• conservative
• republican
• America
• Canada
• Europe
• western society
• Locke
• Hobbes
• Rousseau
• Keynesian
• vote
• voting
• electorate
• senate
• parliament

[GeneticIdentity101]

It never deviates from liberalism. It is a liberal system of trade and market, the government is just there to uphold the right of the citizen as per the constitutional framework of the country.

America, well, they are somewhere way to the right of the rest of the world - with the exception of the crude, raw capitalism of the new China and India. I can't speak to the political system of the US. I prefer not to think about the US at all to be honest.

[FRSFreeStateES]

@GeneticIdentity101

I think your right but as someone who's actually a liberal. I'm kinda offended when conservatives mistaken. Intentionally or not liberalism for Democratic Socialism . Because they are two different Political Ideology's. Liberalism is about Freedom for the Individual . Where Democratic Socialism has more of a collectivist approach.

[GeneticIdentity101]

It is still the same concept: how much involvement should the government have in the market? It's widely recognized that there is a disproportionate distribution of wealth; we don't even argue it anymore. The model is now: who makes up for the slack? Is it up to the citizen to forrage their own way out of it (equality of opportunity; individualism) or is it up to the government elect to upkeep a minimum standard to remain accountable to the citizen (equality of condition; collectivism).

[GeneticIdentity101]

In Canada we have a First Past the Post voting model, in the US you have a proportional representation model. In both cases it's still a representative democracy on the line of liberalism, our Conservative party would be centrist to you and our Liberal would be Left, where our National Democratic Party would be much further left. Regardless, this tipartite system still runs along the line of Neo-conservative and neo-liberal under the dominant arch of liberalism as an ideology.

[GeneticIdentity101]

No, that is a semantic of American populism. Liberal democracy is just another word for "liberal market". Where the people have "freedom to liberty and equality". I don't know if these terms are mutually exclusive in American politics, I can't speak for it (I'm socialised to a Canadian and European back-drop, to provide some context); but, given the dialectal difference, when I speak of the liberalism as a whole, I'm talking about a free market system of representative democracy.

[FRSFreeStateES]

@GeneticIdentity101

I think you have "Small Liberalism" mixed up with centrism. Liberalism is about Liberty and Democracy like in Liberal Democracy which is what America is. As well as equality for all that everyone should have the opportunity to get the skills that they need to be successful in life. And be as successful as they're skills and production will allow. Liberalism is not about Social Insurance or the Welfare State. Those are means to an end.

[GeneticIdentity101]

a private ownership of the means and the distribution.

Liberalism as an ideology divides this into a secondary subset of ideals: should private ownership have laws governing its limitations, or should it be allowed to function in competition and have a market that is controlled only by the profit it generates and the way that it can generate profit. Yes, these are two opposite extremes, but, in neo-liberalism there is an attempt to balance these two as we can clearly see in the world around us.

[GeneticIdentity101]

It is all the same central ideology which stems well before the advent of these petty titles and obscuring of the central theme.

The central theme of liberalism; since the introduction of the British Parliament, has been the ownership of the means of production and how goods will be distributed.

There is no distinction other than: either the polis owning the means and the distribution (or in effect the social contract between the polis and government owning these means and distribution) OR

[GeneticIdentity101]

It is very negligent to lose focus of what differentiates an ideology from a political platform. Liberals, Conservatives; Democrats, Republicans, all opperate under the same label of liberal ideology that comes from thinkers such as Locke, Hobbes, Smith, Rousseau, etc.

When I say liberalism, there should be an assumption made that I am talking about a means to approaching the market. Libertarianism is nothing but a very far right interpretation of liberalism (in terms of freeing the market)