Liberalism Vs Conservatism

With our discussion about Liberalism versus conservatism, I learned that they aren’t black and white points where individuals stand. I learned that they are extreme ends of the spectrum when it comes to ideologies and no one can be a “bleeding heart liberal” compared to society seen as a contract from the conservative's perspective (Riley 1). Being one or the other is not very likely, most people are in the gray area in between the spectrum of political views. Both Liberalism and conservatism are strong standards that society follows as everyone fits under one or the other but that's not the case. John Locke was the first to express the principles of Liberalism with tradition. He believed that “life, liberty, and estate belonged to individuals” meaning we as Americans have individual rights that should be considered with everything that we do in our lives (Riley 2). If “individuals agree to limits on their behavior by …show more content…
Edmund Burke was seen as the spokesman of the conservative view. Burke believed that human beings have rights whether or not they were conventional or natural because “these rights were organically related to society and could not be divorced from it” (Riley 6). Conservatives are seen as very religious because Burke had a devotion to religious foundations in how people decided to run their lives. These point of views have also been seen as Marxist because they “have been seen to resort to religious-like defenses” where once if someone were to cause a crime, they would be punished harshly so they wouldn’t commit the crime again (Riley 8). All human beings pursue their own interests but some may need more discipline to sacrifice some interests. With discipline, tradition is key as a conservative because in order to choose a difference over tradition would create conflict between their very own