Free Political Ideology Essay Sample
Political ideology can be defined as a set of rules, regulations, values or beliefs that are held by a particular individual or group of individuals that defines or rather sets the standards on how the society should behave and present a guideline for a certain social order. With this in mind, it is therefore important to state that every person in the society belongs or holds in his or her life some form of ideologies (political) whose base defines the way he or she desires to view the society as a whole, thus meeting their expectations of in the society. There are different political ideologies that exist across the globe. However, the most common political ideologies that are well known in the contemporary society are liberalism and conservatism. Notably, most people in the current world belong either to conservatism or liberalism. Thus, as an individual, I belong to middle conservatism.
Consequently, there are general issues that are considered as important when one holds the conservative political ideology. To begin with, conservatism promotes the existence of traditional social institutions with a minimal support for changes in these institutions. As a result, conservatism argues that instead of imposing drastic or abrupt changes on social structures, this should be done gradually (Vincent 56). It is also important to note that there are various forms of conservatism that have been exhibited in the society. More so, whereas different types of conservatism are similar in character, they have variant area of focus. In other words, whereas they propose that the society should maintain traditional structures, they are persistent in certain areas than in others. For instance, some forms of conservatism focus more on religion than on any other area of social perspectives.
As a middle conservative, there are certain values that I believe are most important in the society. Among the first values that are important in the society include the power of choice and equality. Whereas there are many instances in which individuals in the society cannot be equal in any way, this does not eliminate the need to promote equality in the society. As a result, some of the values that promote equality that should be encouraged include the creation of a society where all people are given an equal access to life opportunities such education and employment (Krugman 2010). Equally, there should be a promotion of equal treatment of different races in the society, without any race being subjected to special treatment while ignoring the other race. Looking at it from another perspective, people in the society should be treated with equality by the rule of law. In this respect, there should be no one in the society who is treated with a certain scale of the rule of law while the other is treated otherwise.
Another conservative value that is promoted in the society is the power of choice. Different societies across the globe have continued to face a lot of challenges in regard to how people should make their choices in the society. However, humanity should recognize the power that lies in making of choices in the society (Gray 2010). With this in mind, whereas the government is an important part of the society, it should not in any way coerce its decisions on its citizens. Instead, the government should lay down the necessary policies and allow people to make their own choices without being influenced in any way. However, in as much as this should be the case, individuals need to be reminded on the consequences of making wrong choices in their daily lives. Some of these choices include a warped future and punishment from the existing government.
The issue of conservatism has continued to play an important in the US politics. In reference to this point, the question of taxes in the United States has caused a lot of contention between conservatives and liberals. According to the New York Times' Krugman (2010), there is a push by the Republicans who are generally conservatives and some conservative Democrats to maintain the Bush administration tax policies that benefit the middle class in the American society and thus promote equality by lowering the margin between the rich and the middle class. Whereas there has been an outcry from other quotas of the American government in regard to maintaining these tax cuts due to their cost to budget deficits, the proponents of these tax cuts are adamant and unwilling to change.
On the other hand, the freedom of choice is an important aspect of the conservatism. In line with this, one of the issue that has raised a lot of arguments in the recent times in the United States regards the health care financial system, whereby the government have been working on getting a government-supported healthcare system instead of allowing Americans to make their own choices in regard to what they want for themselves in terms of healthcare. According to Gray (2010), the American Legislative Exchange Council's Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act ensures a person's right to pay directly for medical care thus enabling Americans to make their own choices. Note that American Legislative Exchange Council is a conservative body.
In summation, it can be argued that conservatism entail the ability of the society to maintain traditional societal structures as opposed to embracing drastic and abrupt changes in these structures. On the other hand, conservatism promotes the power of choice whereby a person or the society as a whole embraces the ability to make a choice rather than being forced to accept certain issues in the society. In addition to this, conservatism also encourages equality, with an inclination towards equality in opportunities and exercising of the rule of law. Following these points, it can be concluded that conservatism plays an important role in the American society.