Modern liberalism in the United States
5266241
225886322
2008-07-15T21:28:54Z
Goethean
28381
reverting
{{liberalism}}
'''Modern liberalism in the United States''', also referred to as '''American liberalism''', is a political ideology that seeks to maximize individual liberty, defined as the provision of both [[negative and positive rights|negative rights]], that is freedom from coercion, and [[Negative and positive rights|positive rights]], such as education, health care and other services and goods believed to be required for human development and self-actualization.<ref name="McGowan">McGowan, J. (2007). ''American Liberalism: An Interpretation for Our Time''. Chapel Hill, NC: North Carolina University Press.</ref>{{Page number}} Consequently it attempts a wide distribution of power, where no ethnic group, religion or socio-economic class dominates the polity, free exchange of ideas, and government ensured provision of basic rights, such as education and health care in order to create an effective form of freedom.<ref name="McGowan">McGowan, J. (2007). ''American Liberalism: An Interpretation for Our Time''. Chapel Hill, NC: North Carolina University Press</ref>{{Page number}} Princeton sociologist [[Paul Starr]] described it by saying,<ref name="Starr, P. (1 March 2007). War and Liberalism. ''The New Republic''.">{{cite web|url=https://ssl.tnr.com/p/docsub.mhtml?i=20070305&s=starr030507|title=Starr, P. (1 March 2007). War and Liberalism. ''The New Republic''.|accessdate=2007-08-02}}</ref>
<blockquote>"Liberalism wagers that a state... can be strong but constrained – strong because constrained... Rights to education and other requirements for human development and security aim to advance equal opportunity and personal dignity and to promote a creative and productive society. To guarantee those rights, liberals have supported a wider social and economic role for the state, counterbalanced by more robust guarantees of civil liberties and a wider social system of checks and balances anchored in an independent press and pluralistic society."</blockquote>
[[John F. Kennedy]] defined liberalism this way:
<blockquote>"If by a 'Liberal' they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a 'Liberal,' then I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal.'<ref name=JFKdef>[http://www.cjnetworks.com/~cubsfan/whatis.html What Is A Liberal]"</ref></blockquote>
Modern American liberalism is largely a combination of [[social liberalism]], [[social progressivism]], and [[mixed economy]] philosophy. It is distinguished from [[classic liberalism]] and [[libertarianism]], which also claim freedom as their primary goal, in its insistence upon the inclusion of positive rights and in a broader definition of equality. Modern American liberals view the concentration of wealth and the destruction of the environment as threats to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. While the development of modern American liberalism may be traced to the late 19<sup>th</sup> and early 20<sup>th</sup> century, it may also be viewed as the modern version of the classical liberalism upon which America was founded.<ref name="McGowan"/> Following the [[Great Depression]], it became the dominant ideology in the U.S., until the late 1970s. Today, it remains powerful, but continues to be challenged by the re-emergence of [[laissez-faire]] ideology.<ref name="Clark">Clark, B. (1998). ''Political economy: A comparative approach''. Westport, CT: Paeger.</ref>
==American versus European use of the term "liberalism"==
Today the word "liberalism" is used differently in different countries. (''See [[Liberalism worldwide]]'') One of the greatest contrasts is between the usage in the United States and usage in Continental [[Europe]]. According to [[Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.]] (writing in 1962), "Liberalism in the American usage has little in common with the word as used in the politics of any European country, save possibly [[UK|Britain]]."<ref name="Schlesinger">[http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/schleslib.html Liberalism in America: A Note for Europeans] by [[Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.|Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.]] (1956)
from: The Politics of Hope (Boston: Riverside Press, 1962).</ref>
According to Girvetz and Minogue writing in ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', "contemporary liberalism has come to represent different things to Americans and Europeans: In the United States it is associated with the [[Welfare state|welfare-state]] policies of the [[New Deal]] program of [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], whereas in Europe liberals are more commonly [[conservative]] in their political and economic outlook."<ref name="Britannica">Girvetz, Harry K. and Minogue Kenneth. [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9117288?query=liberalism&ct=eb ''Liberalism''], ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (online), p. 1, retrieved June 19,2006</ref> Continental Europeans often apply the term "liberal" mainly to an individual's economic liberties, such as [[free markets]] and hence they have many positions in common with American conservatives.
In late 20th century and early 21st century political discourse in the United States, "liberalism" has come to mean support for freedom of speech and freedom of religion, reproductive rights for women, a progressive income tax, the right to privacy, equal rights for gay people, equal rights for the disabled, [[affirmative action]], the relief of [[poverty]] by government intervention, affordable quality health care for all, and the protection of the environment. In Europe some of these views are shared by [[Social democracy|Social Democrats]] while others are non-issues.
It is, however, important to note that there are extremely significant distinctions on the theoretical level between modern American liberalism and the more [[European]] notion of [[social democracy]], specifically, the lack of [[socialism|socialist]] influences. Modern American liberalism distrusts the concentration of [[power (sociology)|power]], and especially force and coercion, wherever it may exist, in any of its manifold forms, whether in government or in the private sector, far more than it distrusts inequality of outcome, which it views as an unfortunate and dislikable but unavoidable byproduct of an free and open society, provided that society makes a concerted effort to mitigate and attenuate nonpositive social outcomes, such as poverty, ill health, pollution, or homelessness. These differences have practical effects on the policies of liberals: for example, it is true today, and generally has been, that modern American liberalism tends to believe more in [[oversight]] and [[regulation]] rather than outright [[nationalization]] or [[socialization]] of sectors of the economy; socialization of non-essential sectors of the economy is anathema to most American liberals (and even essential sectors, barring large-scale [[market failure]]), while in the European nations, socialization of the economy is or has been a desire or an achievement of many social democratic parties. Other differences exist, as well; for example, the modern American liberal usually is a strong supporter of [[civil liberties]], such as [[freedom of expression]], in a rather "absolutist" manner (see, for example, the [[ACLU]], though not officially a liberal organization), while those on the left in Europe tend to believe that banning speech that "incites racial hatred" or is alleged to be "harmful to children" is a good thing. But still, on a broad level, there is a certain compatibility of policies between the two tendencies; both believe in affordable health care for all, both believe in aiding the poor and eliminating poverty, both believe in the goal of full employment, both believe in multilateralism and international institutions, both believe in workers' rights, both believe in a democratic, pluricentric, fundamentally [[open society]].
The [[anglosphere|English-speaking]] nations have differing interpretations of liberalism. Though the British and Canadian liberal parties have an understanding of liberalism similar to those of the United States, the political discourse in [[Australia]] follows that of Europe. The Australian political party known as [[Liberal Party of Australia|The Liberal Party]] shares more in common with Republicans than it does with Democrats. The [[United Kingdom]]'s [[Liberal Democrats]] have an understanding of liberalism somewhat similar to that of modern American liberalism. The [[Liberal Party of Canada]] also shares similar views to that of modern American liberalism, but in a distinctive [[Canadian]] context.
==Demographics of American liberals==
While it is difficult to gather demographic information on ideological groups, some studies have been conducted. Liberalism remains most popular among those in academia and liberals commonly tend to be highly educated and relatively affluent. According to recent surveys, between 19% and 26% of the American electorate identify as liberal, versus moderate or conservative.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bipartisandisorder.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/ap-ipsos-thompson.pdf |title=The Associated Press Poll Conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs/Project #81-5681-13 |publisher=Bipartisan Disorder |date=[[2007-06-06]]|accessdate=2007-07-12}}</ref> A 2004 study by the Pew Research Center identified 19% of Americans as liberal. According to the study, liberals were the most educated ideological demographic and were tied with the conservative sub-group, the "Enterprisers," for the most affluent group. Of those who identified as liberal, 49% were college graduates and 41% had household incomes exceeding $75,000, compared to 27% and 28% as the national average, respectively.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=945|title=Pew Research Center. (10 May, 2005). Beyond Red vs. Blue.|accessdate=2007-07-12}}</ref>
Liberalism also remains the dominant political ideology in academia, with 72% of full-time faculty identifying as liberal in a 2004 study.<ref name="Kurtz, H. (29 March, 2005). College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds. ''The Washington Post''.">{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8427-2005Mar28.html|title=Kurtz, H. (29 March, 2005). College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds. ''The Washington Post''.|accessdate=2007-07-02}}</ref> The [[social sciences]] and [[humanities]] were most liberal, whereas business and engineering departments were the most conservative. The high educational attainment and prominence of liberal thought on American campuses can largely be attributed to a correlation between education and ideology. Generally, the more educated a person is, the more likely he or she is to hold liberal beliefs.<ref name="O'Bannon, B. R. (27 August, 2003). In SKROAGLEDefense of the 'Liberal' Professor. ''Indianapolis Star''.">{{cite web|url=http://www.collegenews.org/x2782.xml|title=O'Bannon, B. R. (27 August, 2003). In Defense of the 'Liberal' Professor. ''Indianapolis Star''.|accessdate=2007-07-02}}</ref> In the 2000, 2004 and 2006 elections, the vast majority of liberals voted in favor of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]], though liberals may also show support for the [[Green Party (United States)|Greens]].<ref name="CNN. (2000). Exit Poll.">{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/results/index.epolls.html|title=CNN. (2000). Exit Poll.|accessdate=2007-07-11}}</ref><ref name="CNN. (2004). Exit Poll.">{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html|title=CNN. (2004). Exit Poll.|accessdate=2007-07-11}}</ref><ref name="CNN. (2006). Exit Poll.">{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/US/H/00/epolls.0.html|title=CNN. (2006). Exit Poll.|accessdate=2007-07-11}}</ref>
==History of modern liberalism in the United States==
Scholar of liberalism [[Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.]], writing in 1956, said that liberalism in the United States includes both a "[[laissez-faire]]" form and a "[[economic interventionism|government intervention]]" form. He holds that liberalism in the United States is aimed toward achieving "equality of opportunity for all" but it is the means of achieving this that changes depending on the circumstances. He says that the "process of redefining liberalism in terms of the social needs of the 20th century was conducted by Theodore Roosevelt and his New Nationalism, Woodrow Wilson and his New Freedom, and Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal. Out of these three reform periods there emerged the conception of a social welfare state, in which the national government had the express obligation to maintain high levels of employment in the economy, to supervise standards of life and labor, to regulate the methods of business competition, and to establish comprehensive patterns of social security."<ref name="Schlesinger"/>
Some make the distinction between "American classical liberalism" and the "[[new liberalism]]."<ref>Novak, William J. [http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/lhr/24.1/novak.html ''The Not-So-Strange Birth of the Modern American State: A Comment on James A. Henretta's "Charles Evans Hughes and the Strange Death of Liberal America"''], Law and History Review, Volume 24, Number 1, Spring 2006)</ref>
===Early modern liberalism===
{{Progressivism}}
[[Herbert Croly]] (1869 – 1930), philosopher and political theorist, was the first to effectively combine [[classical liberal]] theory with [[progressivism|progressive]] philosophy to form what would come to be known as modern liberalism in the United States. Croly presented the case for a planned economy, increased spending on education, and the creation of a society based on the "brotherhood of mankind," ideas that are now an integral part of American government. Croly founded the periodical, ''[[The New Republic]]'', still in circulation, which continues to present liberal ideas.
His ideas influenced the political views of both [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and [[Woodrow Wilson]]. In 1909, Croly published ''[[The Promise of American Life]]'', in which he proposed raising the general standard of living by means of economic planning and in which he opposed aggressive unionization. In ''[[The Techniques of Democracy]]'' (1915) he argued against both dogmatic individualism and dogmatic socialism.
===The New Deal===
President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] came to office in 1933 amid the economic calamity of the [[Great Depression]], offering the nation a [[New Deal]] intended to alleviate economic want and joblessness, provide greater opportunities, and restore prosperity. His presidency from 1933 to 1945, the longest in U.S. history, was marked by an increased role for the Federal government in addressing the nation's economic and social problems. Work relief programs provided jobs, ambitious projects such as the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] were created to promote economic development, and a [[social security]] system was established. The Great Depression dragged on through the early and middle 1930s, showing some signs of relief in the late decade, though full recovery didn't come until the total [[mobilization]] of U.S. economic, social, and military resources for the Allied cause in World War II. The New Deal programs to relieve the Depression are generally regarded as a mixed success in ending the nation's economic problems on a macroeconomic level. Still, although fundamental economic indicators may have remained depressed, the programs of the New Deal were extremely popular, as they improved the life of the common citizen, by providing jobs for the unemployed, legal protection for labor unionists, modern utilities for rural America, living wages for the working poor, and price stability for the family farmer, though economic progress for minorities was hindered by discrimination, an issue often avoided by Roosevelt's administration.
The New Deal consisted of three types of programs designed to produce "Relief, Recovery and Reform":
'''Relief''' was the immediate effort to help the one-third of the population that was hardest hit by the depression. Roosevelt expanded Hoover's FERA work relief program, and added the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] (CCC), [[Public Works Administration]] (PWA), and starting in 1935 the [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA). In 1935 the [[Social Security Act]] (SSA) and [[unemployment benefit#United States|unemployment insurance]] programs were added. Separate programs were set up for relief in rural America, such as the [[Resettlement Administration]] and [[Farm Security Administration]].
'''Recovery''' was the goal of restoring the economy to pre-epression levels. It involved "pump priming" (greater spending of government funds in an effort to stimulate the economy, including deficit spending), dropping the [[gold standard]], efforts to increase farm prices that were too low to support common farmers, and efforts to increase [[foreign trade]] through the reduction of tariffs. Efforts contemporary with the New Deal to help corporate America were channeled through a Hoover program of loans and loan guarantees, overseen by the [[Reconstruction Finance Corporation]] (RFC).
'''Reform''' was based on the assumption that the depression was caused by the inherent instability of the market and that government intervention was necessary to rationalize and stabilize the economy, and to balance the interests of farmers, business and labor. Reform measures included the [[National Industrial Recovery Act]] (NIRA), regulation of Wall Street by the [[Securities Exchange Act of 1934|Securities Exchange Act]] (SEA), the [[Agricultural Adjustment Act]] (AAA) for farm programs, [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] (FDIC) insurance for bank deposits enacted through the [[Glass-Steagall Act]] of 1933, and the [[National Labor Relations Act]] (NLRA) (also known as the Wagner Act) dealing with labor-management relations. Despite urgings by some New Dealers, there was no major anti-trust program. Roosevelt opposed [[socialism]] (in the sense of state ownership of the means of production), and only one major program, the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] (TVA), involved government ownership of the means of production, specifically the construction of power plants and electrical infrastructure--which otherwise would probably not have been built.
In international affairs, Roosevelt's presidency was dominated by the outbreak of [[World War II]] and American entry into the war in 1941. Anticipating the post-war period, Roosevelt strongly supported proposals to create a [[United Nations]] organization as a means of encouraging mutual cooperation to solve problems on the international stage. His commitment to internationalist ideals was in the tradition of [[Woodrow Wilson]], architect of the failed [[League of Nations]].<ref>[http://www.raabcollection.com/detail.aspx?cat=2&subcat=38&man=261 Franklin Roosevelt Articulates a Vibrant, Meaningful and Liberal Political Philosophy], The Raab Collection.</ref>
===Embedded liberalism===
The term [[embedded liberalism]], credited to [[John Ruggie]]<ref>Ruggie, John Gerard. 1982. "International Regimes, Transactions, and Change: Embedded Liberalism in the Postwar Economic Order."</ref>, refers not to a political philosophy but rather to the economic system which dominated worldwide from the end of [[World War II]] to the 1970s, and to which liberals responded to.
===Liberalism during the Cold War===
U.S. liberalism of the [[Cold War]] era was the immediate heir to [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] and the slightly more distant heir to the [[Progressive Era|Progressives]] of the early 20th century.
The essential tenets of Cold War liberalism can be found in Roosevelt's [[Four Freedoms]] (1941): of these, [[freedom of speech]] and [[freedom of religion|of religion]] were classic liberal freedoms, as was "freedom from fear" (freedom from tyrannical government), but "freedom from want" was another matter. Roosevelt proposed a notion of freedom that went beyond government non-interference in private lives. "Freedom from want" could justify positive government action to meet economic needs, a concept more associated with the concepts of Lincoln's Republican party, Clay's Whig Party, and Hamilton's economic principles of government intervention and subsidy than the more radical [[socialism]] and [[social democracy]] of European thinkers or with prior versions of classical liberalism as represented by Jefferson's Republican and Jackson's Democratic party.
Defining itself against both [[Communism]] and conservatism, Cold War liberalism resembled earlier "liberalisms" in its views on many social issues and personal liberty, but its economic views were not those of [[free market|free-market]] Jeffersonian liberalism; instead, they constituted ideas of American progressive thought rooted in Clay, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt which resembled a mild form of European styled social democracy.
Most prominent and constant among the positions of Cold War liberalism were:
* Support for a domestic economy built on a balance of power between labor (in the form of organized [[trade union|unions]]) and management (with a tendency to be more interested in large corporations than in [[small business]]).
* A foreign policy focused on containing the [[Soviet Union]] and its allies.
* The continuation and expansion of New Deal social welfare programs (in the broad sense of welfare, including programs such as [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]]).
* An embrace of [[Keynesianism|Keynesian economics]]. By way of compromise with political groupings to their right, this often became, in practice, [[military Keynesianism]].
In some ways this resembled what in other countries was referred to as [[social democracy]]. However, unlike [[Europe]]an social democrats, U.S. liberals never widely endorsed [[nationalization]] of industry but regulation for public benefit.
In the 1950s and 1960s, both major U.S. political parties included liberal and conservative factions. The [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] had two wings: on the one hand, Northern and Western liberals, on the other generally conservative Southern [[whites]]. Difficult to classify were the northern [[urban area|urban]] Democratic "[[political machine]]s". The urban machines had supported New Deal economic policies, but would slowly come apart over racial issues. Some historians have divided the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] into liberal [[Wall Street]] and conservative [[Main street|Main Street]] factions; others have noted that the GOP's conservatives came from landlocked states (Robert Taft of Ohio and Barry Goldwater of Arizona) and the liberals tended to come from California (Earl Warren and Paul N. "Pete" McCloskey), New York (see [[Nelson Rockefeller]]), and other coastal states.{{Fact|date=June 2007}}
In the late 1940s, liberals generally did not see [[Harry S. Truman]] as one of their own, viewing him as a Democratic Party hack. However, liberal politicians and liberal organizations such as the [[Americans for Democratic Action]] (ADA) sided with Truman in opposing Communism both at home and abroad, sometimes at the sacrifice of [[civil liberties]]. For example, ADA co-founder and archetypal Cold War liberal [[Hubert Humphrey]] unsuccessfully sponsored (in 1950) a Senate bill to establish detention centers where those declared subversive by the [[President of the United States|President]] could be held without trial.
Nonetheless, liberals opposed [[McCarthyism]] and were central to McCarthy's downfall.
===The liberal consensus===
By 1950, the liberal ideology was so intellectually dominant that the literary critic [[Lionel Trilling]] could write that "liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition... there are no conservative or reactionary ideas in circulation...." [Lapham 2004]
For almost two decades, Cold War liberalism remained the dominant paradigm in U.S. politics, peaking with the landslide victory of [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] over [[Barry Goldwater]] in the 1964 presidential election. Lyndon Johnson had been a New Deal Democrat in the 1930s and by the 1950s had decided that the Democratic Party had to break from its segregationist past and endorse racial liberalism as well as economic liberalism. In the face of the disastrous defeat of Goldwater, the Republicans accepted more than a few of Johnson's ideas as their own, so to a very real extent, the policies of President Johnson became the policies of the Republican administrations of [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Gerald R. Ford]].
===Liberals and civil rights===
Cold War liberalism emerged at a time when most [[African American]]s, especially in [[Southern United States|the South]], were politically and economically disenfranchised. Beginning with ''[[To Secure These Rights]]'', an official report issued by the Truman White House in 1947, self-proclaimed liberals increasingly embraced the civil rights movement. In 1948, President Truman desegregated the armed forces and the Democrats inserted a strong civil rights "plank" (provision) in the [[party platform]]. Legislatively, the civil rights movement would culminate in the passage of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]].
During the 1960s, relations between white liberals and the civil rights movement became increasingly strained; civil rights leaders accused liberal politicians of temporizing and procrastinating. Although President Kennedy sent federal troops to compel the [[University of Mississippi]] to admit African American [[James Meredith]] in 1962, and civil rights leader [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]] toned down the [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom|March on Washington]] (1963) at Kennedy's behest, the failure to seat the [[delegate]]s of the [[Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party]] at the 1964 [[Democratic National Convention]] indicated a growing rift. President Johnson could not understand why the rather impressive civil rights laws passed under his leadership had failed to immunize Northern and Western cities from rioting. At the same time, the civil rights movement itself was becoming fractured. By 1966, a [[Black Power]] movement had emerged; Black Power advocates accused white liberals of trying to control the civil rights agenda. Proponents of Black Power wanted African-Americans to follow an "ethnic model" for obtaining power, not unlike that of Democratic political machines in large cities. This put them on a collision course with urban machine politicians. And, on its most extreme edges, the Black Power movement contained racial separatists who wanted to give up on integration altogether — a program that could not be endorsed by American liberals of any race. The mere existence of such individuals (who always got more media attention than their actual numbers might have warranted) contributed to "white backlash" against liberals and civil rights activists.
===Paleoliberalism and neoconservatives===
According to [[Michael Lind]], in the late 1960s and early 1970s many "anti-[[Soviet Union|Soviet]] liberals and [[social democracy|social democrats]] in the tradition of [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]], [[John F. Kennedy|Kennedy]], [[Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson]], [[Hubert Humphrey|Humphrey]] and [[Henry M. Jackson|Henry ("Scoop") Jackson]]… preferred to call themselves '[[paleoliberalism|paleoliberals]]'".
According to Lind, this group of people influenced or later became ''[[neoconservatism|neoconservatives]]''.{{ref||Lind}}
===Liberals and Vietnam===
While the civil rights movement isolated liberals from their erstwhile allies, the [[Vietnam War]] threw a wedge into the liberal ranks, dividing pro-war "hawks" such as Senator [[Henry M. Jackson]] from "doves" such as senator (and 1972 presidential candidate) [[George McGovern]]. As the war became the leading political issue of the day, agreement on domestic matters was not enough to hold the liberal consensus together.
Vietnam could be called a "liberal war", part of the strategy of [[containment]] of Soviet Communism. In the 1960 presidential campaign, the liberal Kennedy was more hawkish on [[Southeast Asia]] than the more conservative Nixon. Although it can be argued that the war expanded only under the less liberal Johnson, there was enormous continuity of their [[United States Cabinet|cabinets]].
As opposition to the war grew, a large portion of that opposition came from within liberal ranks. In 1968, the [[Dump Johnson movement]] forced Democratic President Johnson out of the race for his own party's nomination for the presidency. Assassination removed [[Robert Kennedy]] from contention and [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] Hubert Humphrey emerged from the disastrous [[1968 Democratic National Convention]] with the presidential nomination of a deeply divided party. The party's [[right-wing politics|right wing]] had seceded to run [[Governor of Alabama]] [[George Wallace]], and some on the left chose to sit out the election rather than vote for a man so closely associated with the Johnson administration (and with [[Chicago]] mayor [[Richard J. Daley]]). The result was a narrow victory for Republican Richard Nixon, a man who, although a [[California]] native, was largely regarded as from the old Northeast [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] Establishment, and quite liberal in many areas himself. Nixon enacted many liberal policies, including the establishment of the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]], establishing the [[Drug Enforcement Agency]], normalizing relations with [[People's Republic of China|Communist China]], and starting the [[Strategic Arms Limitation Talks]] to reduce [[ballistic missile]] availability.
===Nixon and the liberal consensus===
While the differences between Nixon and the liberals are obvious – the liberal wing of his own party favored politicians like [[Nelson Rockefeller]] and [[William Scranton]], and Nixon overtly placed an emphasis on "law and order" over civil liberties, and [[Nixon's Enemies List]] was composed largely of liberals – in some ways the continuity of many of Nixon's policies with those of the Kennedy-Johnson years is more remarkable than the differences. Pointing at this continuity, [[Noam Chomsky]] has called Nixon, "in many respects the last liberal president."<ref>[http://www.chomsky.info/articles/200006--.htm The Colombia Plan: April 2000] by Noam Chomsky, Z Magazine, June, 2000.</ref>
Although liberals turned increasingly against the Vietnam War, to the point of running the very dovish [[George McGovern]] for President in 1972, the war had, as noted above, been of largely liberal origin. Similarly, while many liberals condemned actions such as the Nixon administrations support for the [[History of Chile#20th century|1973 Chilean coup]], it was not entirely dissimilar to the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]] in 1961 or the [[Operation Power Pack|marine landing in the Dominican Republic in 1965]].
The political dominance of the liberal consensus even into the Nixon years can best be seen in policies such as the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency or his (failed) proposal to replace the welfare system with a guaranteed annual income by way of a [[negative income tax]]. [[Affirmative action]] in its most quota-oriented form was a Nixon administration policy. Even the Nixon "[[War on Drugs]]" allocated two-thirds of its funds for treatment, a far higher ratio than was to be the case under any subsequent President, Republican or Democrat. Additionally, Nixon's normalization of diplomatic relations with the [[People's Republic of China]] and his policy of ''détente'' with the Soviet Union were probably more popular with liberals than with his conservative base.
An opposing view, offered by [[Cass R. Sunstein]], in ''The Second Bill of Rights'' (Basic Books, 2004, ISBN 0-465-08332-3) argues that Nixon, through his [[U.S. Supreme Court|Supreme Court]] appointments, effectively ended a decades-long expansion under U.S. law of economic rights along the lines of those put forward in the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]], adopted in 1948 by the [[United Nations General Assembly]].
===End of the liberal consensus===
During the Nixon years (and through the 1970s), the liberal consensus began to come apart with the election of Ronald Reagan marking the election of the first non-Keynsian administration and the first application of supply-side economics. The alliance with white Southern Democrats had been lost in the Civil Rights era. While the steady enfranchisement of African Americans expanded the electorate to include many new voters sympathetic to liberal views, it was not quite enough to make up for the loss of some Southern Democrats. A tide of conservatism rose in response to perceived failures of liberal policies.<ref name="Krugman">Krugman, P. (2007). ''The conscience of a liberal''. New York: W. W. Norton.</ref> Organized labor, long a bulwark of the liberal consensus, was past the peak of its power in the U.S. and many unions had remained in favor of the Vietnam War even as liberal politicians increasingly turned against it.
===Possibility of a new consensus?===
Political scientists, pundits and journalists point to the increasing number of people who identify as liberal, the progressive tendencies of the young and the rapid increase in non-white [[Demography of the United States|demographics]] as signs that the possibility for a new liberal consensus exists. A recent study by the [[Pew Research Center]] found that liberals are now the largest and fastest growing [[Political ideologies in the United States|ideological group]],<ref name="Pew Research Center, Spreadsheet, 2005 poll">{{cite web|url=http://people-press.org/reports/tables/242.pdf|title=Pew Research Center, Spreadsheet, 2005 poll|accessdate=2007-07-13}}</ref> while recent polls have found that young Americans are considerably more liberal than the general population. A slight majority, 56%, of those age 18 to 29 favor gay marriage, 68% state environmental protection to be as important as job creation, 52% "think immigrants 'strengthen the country with their hard work and talents,'" 62% favor "tax financed, government-administrated universal health care" program and 74% "say 'people's will' should have more influence on U.S. laws than the [[Bible]], compared to 37%, 49%, 38%, 47% and 58% among the general population. Moreover, the recent success of [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] in capturing a majority of state legislatures, governorships and congress as well as poll results which show the population favoring Democrats over [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] by the largest margin since the late 1960s create the possibility for the establishment of a new liberal consensus.<ref name="Rosenberg & Leyden">Rosenberg, S. & Leyden, P. (November - December, 2007). The 50-Year Strategy: Beyond '08: Can progressives play for keeps? (p. 63 - 66) ''Mother Jones''.</ref>
== Philosophy of modern liberalism ==
Modern liberals tend to see themselves in the context of their fellow man and woman and assume their rights and privileges are no greater than anyone else's, regardless of wealth or position. Key liberal values are empathy, compassion, trust, and cooperation. Liberalism is an empirical philosophy that attempts to make changes that will improve life even if those changes run contrary to previously accepted positions. Most tenets are not held with unquestioning conviction.
American liberalism claims to differ from competing political philosophies not only through different values or preferences but through different [[epistemological|epistemologies]]. Liberalism is open to change and receptive to empiricism.<ref>[http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050228&s=chait022805 Fact Finders] by Jonathan Chait, ''The New Republic'', [[2005-02-22]].</ref>
In general liberalism is anti-socialist, when socialism means state ownership of the basic means of production and distribution, because American liberals doubt that bases for political opposition and freedom can survive when all power is vested in the state. Some American liberals also doubt the feasibility of administering a socialist system.{{Fact|date=June 2007}} In line with the general pragmatic, empirical basis of liberalism, American liberal philosophy embraces the idea that if substantial abundance and equality of opportunity can be achieved through a system of mixed enterprise, then there is no need for a rigid and oppressive bureaucracy.<ref name="Schlesinger"/>
Many of these ideas were initially promulgated by liberal thinkers [[John Dewey]], [[Reinhold Niebuhr]], and [[John Maynard Keynes]] and form the basis for the American liberal philosophy. The political godfather of American liberalism, [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] never publicly embraced Keynes's theories but there were many similarities between the works of the two men.<ref>[http://www.studyworld.com/Franklin_D_Roosevelt's_New_Deal.htm Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal]</ref> The ideas of American liberal philosophers and American liberal politicians, such as Roosevelt, laid the foundation for American liberalism that remains a viable political philosophy embraced by a significant percentage of Americans.
According to George Lakoff, liberal philosophy is based on five basic categories of morality. The first, the promotion of fairness, is generally described as an emphasis on empathy as a desirable trait. With this social contract based on the [[Ethic of reciprocity|Golden Rule]] comes the rationale for many liberal positions. The second category is assistance to those who cannot assist themselves. A nurturing spirit is one that is considered good in liberal philosophy. This leads to the third category, the desire to protect those who cannot defend themselves. This trait is difficult to define, as both conservative and liberal morality consider it a virtue. The fourth category is the importance of fulfilling one's life; allowing a person to experience all that they can. This goal of ultimate self-development is one that is considered important in liberal philosophy. The fifth, and final, category is the importance of caring for oneself as to allow one to act on the other categories. This means preventing oneself from "becoming a burden on others", and allowing others to do the same.<ref>George Lakeoff. Moral Politics, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2002</ref>
==Some positions associated with modern liberalism==
In the early 21st century, the term "liberalism" in the United States has been applied to a broad spectrum of viewpoints. As the Democratic Party, generally seen as the standard-bearer of liberalism, adopted the more centrist outlook of the [[Democratic Leadership Council]] (DLC), the term "liberal" (applied to the party as a whole) became associated even with more centrist candidates who, for example, may support the [[death penalty]] or take pro-business positions. For this reason, and because many on the right have so heavily used "liberal" as a pejorative, some Americans on the left of the political spectrum prefer to call the movement [[progressivism]].
On the other hand, those associated with the DLC have used the term [[neoliberalism]] to describe what they regard as a more pragmatic and results-oriented form of American liberalism. This usage creates some confusion, since the same term is used to describe the international revival of [[classical liberalism]] and the associated radical free-market policies associated with politicians such as [[Margaret Thatcher]] and, in the United States, [[Ronald Reagan]].
The following are some ideas that many contemporary American liberals or progressives support.
* A social "safety net" including support for Medicare, unemployment benefits, health insurance, and preservation of existing Social Security and welfare programs
* Adherence to the principle of separation of church and state
* A [[progressive tax]] system
* Civil rights, including laws against discrimination based on [[gender]], [[Race (classification of human beings)|race]], [[ageing|age]], [[religion]], [[sexual orientation]], or disability
* Laws intended to protect the environment from pollution and encourage conservation of resources
* Government role in funding or subsidizing [[public education]] and [[public transportation]]
* Regulation of business practices through [[OSHA]], child labor laws, anti-trust laws, and minimum wage laws.
* Labor unions and labor regulation
* The belief in a woman's right to abortion by ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' standards
The following are some ideas that have some support among liberals, but on which there is not clear liberal consensus.
* Government role in alternative energy development
* Government responsibility to supervise ports and infrastructure in the public interest
* A spirit of international cooperation and strong alliances
* The elimination of the [[death penalty]]
* Advocacy of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and support of scientific study
* [[Affirmative action]]
* Transitional multi-lingual educational programs for children whose first language is not [[English language|English]]
* [[Gun control]]
* Marijuana and hemp legalization for medicinal, industrial, or recreational purposes
* The right of the terminally ill to end their life
* [[Animal welfare]]
* Support for same sex-marriage
On globalization, American liberals stand largely divided. Liberal members of the intelligentsia and the professional class tend to favor globalization, due to their cosmopolitan ideals. Members of organized labor, on the other hand, tend to be opposed to increased globalization:
<blockquote>"[Globalization] invites two responses from the Left. The first is to insist that the inequalities between nations need to be mitigated.... The second is to insist that the primary responsibility of each democratic nation-state is to its own least advantaged citizens... the first response suggests that the old democracies should open their borders, whereas the second suggests that they should close them. The first response comes naturally to academic leftists, who have always been internationally minded. The second comes naturally to members of trade unions, and to marginally employed people who can most easily be recruited into right-wing populist movements."<ref name="Rorty">[[Richard Rorty]] (1997). ''Achieving Our Country: Leftist Though In Twenthieth Century America''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.</ref></blockquote>
==Negative use of the term "liberal"==
The negative use of the word "liberal" in American politics dates at least from the time of self-proclaimed American liberal President [[John F. Kennedy]]. In his speech accepting the Presidential nomination by the [[Liberal Party of New York|New York Liberal Party]] on [[September 14]], [[1960]], Kennedy contested the claims of his "opponents" that "liberal" meant "someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar."<ref>[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/35_kennedy/psources/ps_nyliberal.html Acceptance of the New York Liberal Party Nomination] September 14, 1960.</ref>
[[John Lukacs]], in his 2004 essay "The Triumph and Collapse of Liberalism," observed a change in the political usage of the term "liberal" from the 1950s onward. Noting that in 1951, Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] used "liberal" positively when condemning "a conspiracy of infamy so bleak that, when it is finally exposed, its principles shall be forever deserving of the maledictions of all liberal men," and that conservative leader Senator [[Robert A. Taft]] stated he was not a conservative but "an old-fashioned liberal."<ref>[http://forum.politics.be/archive/index.php/t-27809.html The Triumph and Collapse of Liberalism]</ref> Lukacs also asserted that the word "liberal" "has become a Bad Word for millions of Americans."
The use of pejorative terms such as "bleeding-heart liberal", "knee-jerk liberal", "tax-and-spend liberal", "cut-and-run liberal", "[[Massachusetts liberal]]", "[[limousine liberal]]", and "[[liberal elite]]", are a common political tactic in modern American politics. As an example, Republican political consultant [[Arthur J. Finkelstein]] was known to repeat the word "liberal" in negative television commercials as frequently as possible, ''e.g.'': "That's liberal. That's [[Jack Reed]]. That's wrong. Call liberal Jack Reed and tell him his record on welfare is just too liberal for you."<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/news/9610/10/karl.finkelstein/index.shtml Arthur Finkelstein: Out Of Sight But In Control] by Jonathan Karl, [[CNN]], [[1996-10-10]].</ref> Many liberal contemporary politicians have tended to shy away from the "liberal" label, preferring terms such as "[[progressive]]" or "moderate."<ref>[http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1117-28.htm Now Is Not the Time For National Unity!] by Nicholas von Hoffman, ''New York Observer'', [[2004-11-17]].</ref><ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathleen-reardon/should-we-deepsix-the-te_b_7472.html Should We Deep-Six the Term "Liberal" or Own Up to It?] by Kathleen Reardon, ''The Huffington Post'', [[2005-09-16]].</ref>
Conservative columnist [[Ann Coulter]] made the case for using "liberal" as a slur in her book ''[[How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)]]'' in which she likened liberalism to treason. The Conservative Book Service sells a talking doll of [[Ann Coulter]] that says, among other things, "Liberals hate America".<ref>[http://www.conservativebookservice.com/products/BookPage.asp?prod_cd=c6230 Ann Coulter Talking Action Figure], Conservative Book Service product page.</ref> Conservative [[talk radio]] hosts [[Rush Limbaugh]] and [[Sean Hannity]] often use anti-liberal slogans; the latter titled a book ''Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism''. The full title of linguist [[Geoffrey Nunberg]]'s 2006 book on the use of slogans by conservatives to reshape the image of liberalism, ''[[Talking Right|Talking Right: How Conservatives Turned Liberalism into a Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, Volvo-Driving, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood-Loving, Left-Wing Freak Show]]'' is an extended list of liberal slurs.
Conservatives frequently make accusations of [[Liberal elite|liberal elitism]], implying that affluent, educated liberals are not in a position to decide what is best for [[Middle America (United States)|Middle America]]. For example, during the [[U.S. presidential election, 1988|1988 presidential election]], then-Vice President [[George H. W. Bush]] accused [[United States Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[Michael Dukakis]] of being a "[[Harvard University|Harvard]] boutique liberal"; during the [[U.S. presidential election, 2004|2004 presidential election]], a television advertisement accused Democratic nominee [[John Kerry]] of being "another rich liberal elitist from Massachusetts who claims he's a man of the people."<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/03/08/main/ New ads call Kerry 'rich liberal elitist'], ''[[CNN]]'', [[2004-03-08]].</ref>
"Liberal" is also used as a slur by [[anarchists]], [[Marxists]], and other leftists who disdain liberals as hypocritical apologists for capitalism, racism, sexism, and imperialism. Folk singer [[Phil Ochs]] used the term in this manner in his song "Love Me, I'm a Liberal:"
==Major influences on modern liberalism in the United States==
*[[Theodore Roosevelt]] (1858 – 1919)
*[[John F. Kennedy]] (1917 – 1963)
*[[John Dewey]] (1859 – 1952)
*[[Herbert Croly]] (1869 – 1930)
*[[Henry A. Wallace]] (1888 – 1965)
*[[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] (1882 – 1945)
*[[Adlai Stevenson]] (1900 – 1965)
*[[Lyndon B. Johnson]] (1908 – 1973)
*[[John Kenneth Galbraith]] (1908 – 2006)
*[[John Rawls]] (1921 – 2002)
*[[Robert F. Kennedy]] (1925 – 1968)
*[[Martin Luther King|Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.]] (1929 – 1968)
*[[Arthur Schlesinger Jr.]] (1917 – 2007 )
*[[Ronald Dworkin]] (1931 – )
*[[Richard Rorty]] (1931 – 2007 )
*[[Robert Reich]] (1946 – )
==See also==
*[[Economic interventionism]]
*[[Progressive Christianity]]
*[[Progressivism in the United States]]
==Works cited==
<!--This article uses the Cite.php citation mechanism. If you would like more information on how to add footnotes to this article, please see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cite/Cite.php -->
<div style="font-size: 90%">
<references/>
</div>
==References==
*Willard, Charles Arthur. Liberalism and the Problem of Knowledge: A New Rhetoric for Modern Democracy, University of Chicago Press, 1996.
* Hart, Gary. ''Restoration of the Republic: The Jeffersonian Ideal in 21St-Century America'' (2002)
* Lewis H. Lapham, "Tentacles of Rage" in ''[[Harper's]]'', September 2004, p. 31-41.
* Kramnick, Isaac and Theodore Lowi. ''American Political Thought'' (2006)
{{DEFAULTSORT:United States}}
[[Category:American liberalism| ]]
[[Category:Liberalism]]
[[bg:Американски либерализъм]]
[[pl:Amerykański liberalizm]]