Core American Political Values and Their Interpretation by Conservatives and Liberals

Well, hey there and welcome back to Himler's History. And furthermore, welcome to the first video for unit 4 of

the AP government curriculum. This unit is all about how we as Americans develop our political beliefs, how we measure

those beliefs, and then how we try to turn those beliefs into policy. So, in this video, we're going to start by

talking about the core values of Americans and how those affect the way we think about government and politics.

So, if you're ready to get them brain cows milked, then oh baby, let's get to it. Okay. The objective for this video

is as follow. explain the relationship between core beliefs of US citizens and attitudes about the role of government.

Okay, now before we jump in, let me just give an honorable mention to my review packet. It's got exclusive videos that

are not here on YouTube and practice questions and AP style practice exams and basically everything you need to

succeed in your class and do well on the exam. So, that's something you're into, you know, get click your finger out and

follow the link in the description. Okay, so the core beliefs of Americans, what are they? Well, as hard as it is to

say every American believes in the same things, the following five values are generally shared by Americans of all

stripes. individualism, equality of opportunity, free enterprise, rule of law, and limited government. Let me just

define each of those quickly. Individualism is a value that places emphasis on self-reliance and

independence. Americans in general are less community oriented compared to various eastern cultures which put

community above the individual. No, here in America, it's the big cheese or no cheese. As nobody says,

equality of opportunity means that we believe that every American, regardless of their race, ethnicity, sex, religion,

or whatever, deserves equal footing to go after life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We believe that there are,

or at least ought not be, special classes or hierarchies amongst us. We are not a people born with saddles on

our backs, bent low for an aristocracy to ride upon us with boots and spurs. Okay. Then we have free enterprise,

which is a value that has to do with the government's intervention into the economy. In general, Americans like it

lz fair style, which means that we want as little government intervention in the economy as possible. We get all giddy

when we're talking about the free market and the forces of supply and demand. And fourth, we have the rule of law. This

means that we believe every citizen is equal under the law. No one has any special privileges. It was our boy John

Adams, second president of the United States, who summarizing various classical writers said that ours is a

government of laws, not of men. In other words, from a poor farmer all the way up to the president, no one gets special

treatment under the law. And fifth, we have the value of limited government. This is a government whose limits are

well- definfined and is restrained through the separation of powers in a system of checks and balances. Okay, so

when I was listing all those out and defining them, you probably nodded along if you're an American because those are

values that are baked into our DNA. But if you were paying attention, you were probably also going, well, and why?

Because even though many Americans agree on these values, in principle, there are various competing interpretations of

them. Now, it will be far beyond the scope of this video to outline all the competing interpretations, but for our

purposes, it'll be enough to know how the interpretations of these values differ between conservatives and

liberals. And first, a definition of both is in order. Conservatives in general are those who cherish

established institutions and seek to preserve them for the good of society. And that's why they're called

conservatives. They want to conserve the good things that have already been established. Anything that threatens to

overturn those institutions is seen as a threat. Therefore, conservatives tend to emphasize smaller government, which

provides fewer services to the public. Liberals in general are those who push for new reforms in order to make society

more just and equitable. And that's why they're called liberals, which is another word for free. If conservatives

want to tighten the reigns on change in society, liberals want to let the reigns out as long as those changes are going

in the direction of increased justice and equity for all. So, to illustrate this, let me just give you an example.

During the women's rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s, women called for equal rights with men. They wanted equal

pay for equal work, for example, and no discrimination based on their sex when it came to seeking jobs. Now,

conservatives, when they opposed this, did so for many reasons, but chief among them was that encouraging women to work

outside the home would destroy the traditional family structure in which the man worked and the wife stayed home.

So, conservatives wanted to conserve the nuclear family structure that had become standard among middle and upper classes

in the 1950s. On the other hand, liberals saw this change as empowering to women and breaking down unjust social

structures that limited women's opportunities. And so they wanted to let the reigns out on this one. So you can

see based on one little example how conservatives and liberals view the world differently. Okay. Now let's see

how each of those sides interprets the five values that I listed earlier. When it comes to individualism, conservatives

hold to what's called self-centered individualism, which emphasizes the interest of the individual above the

interest of society. Liberals hold to what's called enlightened individualism, which emphasizes the interest of society

above the interest of the individual. So, in the 1960s, when President Lyndon Johnson was rolling out the Great

Society programs, a chief component of which was the war on poverty, conservatives hated it because it took

taxpayer money and redistributed it to the impoverished. That, of course, is a violation of self-centered

individualism. Liberals, on the other hand, loved it because they believe that a government ought to take care of its

poor, even if it's at the expense of those who have more. And when it comes to the equality of opportunity,

conservatives believe in the power of meritocracy, which is to say, everyone rises in America based on their own toil

and sweat. And that's what conservatives would call the American dream. Everyone, no matter who you are, can make it as

long as they work hard enough. Liberals, on the other hand, do agree with the idea of a meritocracy, but they believe

that not all groups start that climb in the same place. So, think about it like a race. Conservatives say that everyone

ought to start at the same place, and whoever finishes first got there because they worked hard. If they finished last,

that's because they're lazy and they didn't work. Liberals would say, "Wait a minute. We're all starting at the

starting line, but half of us have broken legs. Therefore, if it's going to be fair, the ones with the broken legs

need to start closer to the end. Now, I'm already getting myself into trouble with an explanation like that.

Conservatives would probably look at them and say, "No, those aren't broken legs." And the liberals would say, "Yes,

they are." But now, when it comes to free enterprise, conservatives want the government to stay out of the affairs of

businesses and just let the free market determine what's best. Liberals, on the other hand, want the government to

intervene with appropriate regulations to ensure the safety and equality of the workplace. The classic example of this

dichotomy is how two different presidents approached the Great Depression. The conservative Herbert

Hoover, when the Great Depression began, basically just said, you know, the market's going to correct itself

eventually. Let's not intervene. But when liberal Franklin Roosevelt replaced him, he got busy quick, fast, in a

hurry, getting the government way involved in correcting the economy. All right. Now, when it comes to the rule of

law, conservatives tend to see the laws themselves as embodying equality, and therefore, they emphasize the letter of

the law. Liberals in many cases agree that laws embody equality, but they emphasize the unequal application of

those laws, especially with regards to minority groups. For example, consider the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which

basically outlawed all discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and gender. Conservatives would say, "Look, we

passed the law and that embodies equality for everyone." Liberals would say, "Yeah, well, we passed the law, but

due to its unequal application, minorities are still not equal." And finally, when it comes to the value of

limited government, conservatives want to define strong boundaries of federalism, which leads to less

government interference with people's lives. Liberals, to a much greater degree, embrace the need for government

intervention in society for the sake of the greater good. So, yeah, all in all, Americans agree that these five values

are things that we all believe in, but depending on whether you're talking to a conservative or a liberal, you will get

a very different interpretation of those values. Okay, thanks for watching. Click right here to grab my ultimate review

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