Top ten things you need to know Liberalism Top ten things you need to know

1 Liberalism can be defined as an ideology that is open to new ideas, has a broad understanding of various issues, is free from prejudice and restraint in speech or action, and promotes democratic ideals

2 Classical liberal ideas emerged during the Enlightenment Built on the philosophies from ancient Greece and Rome (lost during Dark Ages) Questioned the role of government and the Catholic church

3 Classical liberalism values: Individual rights and freedoms Rule of law Limited government controls A reaction to aristocratic government and mercantilist economics Favors democracy and capitalism

4 Problems with classical liberalism: less sense of community because everyone decides for themselves what is best laissez-faire economic policies lead to the abuse of workers and the environment

By the beginning of the 20th century, political liberalism had become the norm throughout the West, but economic liberalism had resulted in a vast concentration of wealth, with the majority of mankind living in a state of poverty. The economic world was shaken by a series of depressions. Freedom, which in the past had been threatened by autocratic governments, was now threatened by the despotism of the rich. Wikipedia - Liberalism

5 Evolution of liberal ideas Increasing acceptance of government intervention to provide everyone with the opportunity to compete in the marketplace Factory Acts Teddy Roosevelt’s progressive movement *Also a reaction to prevent the growing support for socialist and dictatorial ideas (because they could solve the problems created by classical liberal ideas)

Modern liberalism The idea most people are thinking of when they hear the word liberal Values civil liberties (e.g. right to vote), social equality (e.g gay rights), government intervention in the economy to help the less fortunate 6

7 Examples of modern liberalism: New Deal programs during the Great Depression Canada’s universal health care, employment insurance and pension plans Affirmative action programs Progressive taxation Legalization of gay marriage and marijuana

Political party affiliation 8 Political party affiliation In Canada Liberal Party of Canada Green Party of Canada New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada In the United States Democratic Party

9 In the 1970s the liberal pendulum swung away from the idea of increasing the role of government toward the greater application of laissez-faire principles – often referred to as neo-conservatism.

10 People will often mislabel something as being liberal or conservative, so it is important to look at the ideological beliefs instead of just the label

Wordle Activity Find a major article on the definition of liberalism. Cut and paste the text into a Wordle document (www.wordle.net) and create a word cloud. When you are finished creating, print off the word cloud and answer the following question (attach it to your word cloud) Does the word cloud effectively demonstrate the key ideas of liberalism as we have discussed today?