1 Constitutional
Underpinnings
1 Freedom Order Equality
FREEDOM, ORDER, OR EQUALITY?
This episode corresponds to Chapter 1 in The Challenge of Democracy.
OBJECTIVES
01. Define globalization and explain how globalization affects American
politics and government.
02. Identify the purposes that government serves and trace their historical
roots.
03. Define freedom, order, and equality and discuss the various
interpretations of each value.
04. Analyze the inherent conflicts between freedom versus order and
freedom versus equality.
05. Distinguish among these terms: totalitarianism, socialism, capitalism,
libertarianism, and anarchism.
06. Explain how liberals, conservatives, libertarians, and communitarians
view the role of government.
I. The Globalization of American Government
A. Government: Legitimate use of force Ꮤ
B. National Sovereignty
1. Each national government has the right Ꮤ
2. National sovereignty has changed over the years, particularly
in the era of globalization with interdependence of citizens and
nations across the world.
II. The Purposes of Government
A. Maintaining order, the established was of social behavior, is the
oldest purpose of government.
1. Consider the Enlightenment-era philosopher Thomas Hobbes’s
claim that life without government in “the state of nature” would
be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”, Ꮤ
2. Other theorists took survival for granted, and believed that
governments preserve order by protecting private ownership.
a. The most famous, John Locke wrote in his book Two
Treatises on Government that the basic role of government
was to protect “life, liberty, and property”. This was
strongly influential to early American thinkers and is
reflected in the Declaration of Independence.
b. This defense of property rights became linked with
individual liberties to form the political philosophy of
liberalism, that the state should leave citizens free Ꮤ
3. On the other hand, Karl Marx theorized that governments
should not protect private property, but rather should protect
property for all people by the government taking ownership and
control of all property for itself. This idea, called communism,
makes ownership of all land and means of production is held by
the people, all equally shared, Ꮤ
B. Providing Public Goods
1. Once a government has established public order, they expand
their scope. Governments use their legitimate force to collect
taxes, then use that revenue to provide public goods— Ꮤ
2. These goods benefit everyone, but are not likely to be
provided by the private sector, such as parks, roads, education,
sewage treatment, etc.
C. Promoting Equality
1. In recent years, people have considered a new role for
government: Ꮤ
2. Controversial: redistributing income to promote economic
equality, differing social values
III. The Concepts of Freedom, Order, and Equality
A. Freedom is always popular with Americans. It can be used both as
“freedom of” and “freedom from”.
1. “Freedom of” is the absences of constraints on behavior. It
can be seen as “liberty” to do something.
2. “Freedom from” often stands for the fight against Ꮤ
B. Order
1. Ꮤ
2. The government can protect order by using police power—its
lawful use of force to safeguard safety, health, welfare, and
morals.
C. Equality
1. Political equality is straightforward: all citizens have one vote
to use ad his or her will. In practice, rich or well-connected
people may have a greater influence on government than people
without the same advantages, leading some to argue that social
equality is necessary for political equality.
2. Social equality: wealth, education, and status. Ꮤ
3. Equality of Opportunity means each person has the same
chance to succeed in life. For instance, the USA does not have
titles of nobility or require ownership of land to serve in office.
Libraries and schools are publicly available. People can go ragsto-riches or vice-versa.
4. Equality of Outcome is the ideal that economic and social
equality are actually achieved, not just potentially achieved. It
requires policies that redistribute resources. It ensures equal
funding for men’s and women’s sports in college athletics. It
promotes minority hiring in businesses, and spurs advancement
of women into higher positions.
IV. Two Dilemmas of Government: Maintaining Order and Promoting
Equality; Each require sacrifices in individual freedom
A. Original Dilemma: Freedom Versus Order
1. Protect life, property, and make citizens safe from violence
and spread of disease.
2. Conflict between values of freedom and order: Ꮤ
B. Modern Dilemma: Freedom vs. Equality
1. A number of ways to define equality; typically in terms of
economic or legal access
a. Equal Pay Act
b. School busing
c. Discrimination (employment, public services, genetic
testing, etc.)
2. Ꮤ
V. Ideology and the Scope of Government
A. Some people organize their opinions based on a political ideology, a
consistent set of values and beliefs on the proper purpose and scope of
government. To varying degrees, a number of ideologies compete in
the American system.
1. Totalitarianism is the belief that the government should have
unlimited power. This government controls business, labor,
education, religion, sports, and the arts. Its goal is to produce a
perfect society. Few people advocate totalitarianism today, Ꮤ
2. Socialism is more specific than totalitarianism; it limits itself
strictly to economic matters. It says that the scope of
government extends to ownership or control of basic industries
that produce goods/services.
a. Like communism, it is an economic theory based on Karl
Marx’s theories.
b. Outside of the USA, socialism is not seen an necessarily
bad—particularly the practice of democratic socialism that
allows civil liberties (including freedoms of speech and
religion) and allow people to shape the governments Ꮤ
3. Capitalism supports free enterprise, with private businesses
operating without government regulation.
4. Libertarianism opposes all government action except what is
necessary to preserve life and property. It accepts that
government is necessary, but say that it should be limited and
should not promote either order or equality. This belief applies
both to social and economic issues.
a. Libertarians oppose government ownership of any
business and want a hands-off approach to the economy.
b. Called laissez faire, a French phrase meaning “let
(people) do (as they please)”, Ꮤ
5. Anarchism is the opposite of totalitarianism; it opposes all
government. Anarchy values absolute freedom. A true anarchist
would even oppose traffic laws, since it is a restriction on
personal freedom. Similar to totalitarians, there are few
anarchists, Ꮤ
6. The Narrow Middle: In American politics Liberals and
Conservatives often seem far apart from each other. But on a
social and political spectrum, they occupy a close middle ground.
In common usage, liberals advocate more government
involvement, whereas conservatives advocate less.
B. American Political Ideologies and the Purpose of Government
1. We can classify political ideologies according to the scope of
action that people are willing to allow government in dealing with
social and economic problems.
2. Various philosophical positions exist along an underlying
continuum ranging from least to most government. Conventional
politics in the United States spans only a narrow portion Ꮤ
3. In popular usage, liberals favor a greater scope of
government, and conservatives want a narrower scope. But over
time, the traditional distinction has eroded and now
oversimplifies the differences between liberals and
conservatives.
VI. American Political Ideologies and the Purpose of Government
A. Liberals vs. Conservatives: New Differences; Today, the differences
focus on Ꮤ
1. Conservatives: support maintenance of social order
2. Liberals: support use of government to promote equality
B. Two-Dimensional Classification of Ideologies: Freedom and Order.
Four ideological types are defined by the values they favor in resolving
the two major dilemmas of government: how much freedom should be
sacrificed in pursuit of order and equality, respectively.
1. Libertarians value freedom Ꮤ
2. Liberals value freedom more than order, but not more than
equality
3. Conservatives value freedom more than equality, would
restrict it to preserve social order
4. Communitarians value equality and order more than freedom.
It rejects liberals, conservatives, and libertarian ideals, but does
not support totalitarianism—they argue that the government
should only step in Ꮤ