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History of Conservatism vs Liberalism: The words, their meanings and beginnings

 

 

Liberalism, deriving from the Latin word ‘Liber’, meaning “free, not a slave”. Associated mostly with ‘liberty’ and the concept of freedom, today is known as the descriptive adjective of the Democratic Party and its members. However since its recent poundings it has take over the years by the Republicans’ and their direct messaging to the voters’, Democrats have stopped using the termed word and choose to describe themselves as ‘Progressives’. 

 

Conservatism, having many meanings and descriptive adjectives depending on what type of a conservative you believe yourself to be, (i.e. fiscal, social, neo/paleo/theo, etc..) dates back to 1789 French Revolution. An attitude or train of thought, most conservatives will tell you that it is not an ideology or utopian program rather an abstract reasoning or way of life, value.

 

Though many believe the birth of these concepts were due to the conservative and liberal beliefs of Edmund Burke and Adam Smith, in the late 1700’s, the actual “National” party birth of both began with the 16^th and 17^th Presidents’ of the United States. Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson were the first recognized Democratic and Republican candidates to take the oath of office for the American Presidency. (Though Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Adams were Dem./Rep. and Jackson, Buren, Polk, Pierce and Buchanan were recognized Democrats, the beginning of the National Democrats and Republicans began with Lincoln and Johnson)

 

During their tenures in office, they began the formulation of a Party of principles, beliefs, faiths and values. Though the ideals and legislative concepts were far less exacerbated then today’s, it nonetheless proved to be the formulation of political partisan warfare.

 

If you take a look at the Presidency since Johnson’s departure in 1869 and how it was won and made up since this political party introduction, you will find a very interesting pattern of both successes and failures. If you analyze the Office and its control you will learn that there have been (17) Republicans and only (9) Democrats (almost twice as many) Presidents since Lincoln and Johnson. (Not counting them or Pres.-Elect Obama) You will also see that only three Democratic Presidents have won re-election ever, that being FDR, Truman and Bill “Sweet Meat” Clinton! Therefore, you see either an interesting pattern of Republican control, or a conservatively valued country selecting the candidate that best represents their interests (conservatism).

 

When you also examine the historic periods of their tenures you’ll find that as times change, good or bad, so do the mood and values, of the electorate. Look at the Great Depression, in 1929, and the mood swing amongst voters’ that led to the early one-term departure of Herbert Hoover and led to the crowning of possibly the greatest Democratic leader ever, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Though highly favorable amongst Democrats and America during this period, (and even today), no one person or thing proved to be greater in its stimulating the growth of the conservative movement, than FDR and the New Deal. (Except possibly Communism)

 

However, twenty years and two Presidents’ later, the change needed by the American people, came with the election of, Dwight D Eisenhower. Though not a time of real historic significance or change, he did serve at a time when one of the most significant pieces of history was brought forth, that being the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, by the United States Supreme Court. This decision led to the Civil Rights Era and the election and service of the (2) major Democratic Presidents and their ultimate fingerprints of history.

 

First, John F. Kennedy, the President of “ask not yet what can I do”, to help this country become great! Though his demise, at the hands of an awful assassination plot, cut short his tenure in office, his predecessor Lyndon B. Johnson, became known as the Civil Rights President. Through his time in office and signature, multiple bills of significance were enacted. The Civil Rights Act of ’64 and the Voting Rights Act of ’65 were the two main ingredients to a Democratic rule that only lasted a brief time. Before you know it, the country, divided by the acceptance and integration of blacks, became a more conservative base of voters’, looking for someone to undue the “mess” LBJ had gotten this country into.

 

That person happened to be, Mr. Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon. The former Vice-President under Dwight Eisenhower was ready and willing to take over the helms of justice. However it didn’t take him long, five years, before he muddled the Potomac waters and was shipped out on the Impeachment express. After that scandal, known today as Watergate, America was definitely seeking a change in its leadership and that is what they got with VP Gerald Ford. A straight forward speaking man of servitude, he could not overcome the conservative Republican brand of shifty, deceptive, lying politicians.

 

Therefore, along comes Jimmy Carter, the Democratic liberal hopeful, who couldn’t quite get it right and really bring any significant change to this country. That is how the “how much better off are you now than four years ago” Presidency of Ronald Reagan came about. The Birth of a New Conservatism…(to be continued).