Modern liberalism in the United States

This article is about the ideology normally identified in the United States today as liberalism. For the origin, history and development of American liberalism, including its various forms, see Liberalism in the United States.

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Modern liberalism (often simply referred to in the United States as liberalism) is the dominant version of liberalism in the United States. It combines ideas of civil liberty and equality with support for social justice and a mixed economy.

Modern liberalism is one of two major political ideologies of the United States, with the other being conservatism. According to American philosopher Ian Adams, all major American parties are "liberal and always have been. Essentially they espouse classical liberalism, that is a form of democratized Whig constitutionalism plus the free market. The point of difference comes with the influence of social liberalism".[1] Economically, modern liberalism supports government regulation on private industry, opposes corporate monopolies, and supports labor rights.[2] Its fiscal policy opposes any reduction in spending on the social safety net, while simultaneously promoting income-proportional tax reform policies to reduce deficits. It calls for active government involvement in other social and economic matters such as: reducing economic inequality, increasing diversity, expanding access to education and healthcare, regulating economic activity, and environmentalism.[3] Modern liberalism is a large and mainstream ideology in the Democratic Party and nation. Modern liberalism was formed in the 20th century in response to the Great Depression.[4] Major examples of modern liberal policy programs include the New Deal, the Fair Deal, the New Frontier, the Great Society, the Affordable Care Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.[5][6]

In the first half of the 20th century, both major American parties shared influential conservative and liberal wings. The conservative northern Republicans and Southern Democrats formed the conservative coalition which dominated the Congress from 1937 until the Johnson administration. After World War Two, northern Democrats began to support civil rights and organized labor, while voters and politicians in the formerly "Solid South" opposed them from within the Democratic Party.[5][7] Following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, conservative Democrats began an exodus from the party, and supported Republican candidate Richard Nixon in 1968.[8] By the 1970s the Democratic Party became predominately liberal and the Republican Party adopted conservatism as the party's main ideology.[9] As a group, "liberals" are referred to as left or center-left and "conservatives" as right or center-right.[10] Starting in the 21st century, there has also been a sharp division between liberals who tend to live in denser, more heterogeneous urban areas and conservatives who tend to live in less dense, more homogeneous rural communities, with suburban areas largely split between the two.[11][12] Since the 2000 election, blue and red have been the party colors of the Democrats and Republicans respectively, in contrast to the use of blue for conservatism and red for leftism in the rest of the Western world.[13]

  1. ^ Adams, Ian (2001). Political Ideology Today. Manchester University Press. p. 32. ISBN 0719060206. Ideologically, all US parties are liberal and always have been. Essentially they espouse classical liberalism, that is a form of democratized Whig constitutionalism plus the free market. The point of difference comes with the influence of social liberalism.
  2. ^ Zieger, Robert H. (1993). Orren, Karen (ed.). "How Organized Labor Created Modern Liberalism". Reviews in American History. 21 (1): 111–115. doi:10.2307/2702959. ISSN 0048-7511. JSTOR 2702959.
  3. ^ "The 2016 Democratic Platform". Democratic National Committee. Archived from the original on September 27, 2018. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  4. ^ Olson, James Stuart; Gumpert, Mariah (2017). The Great Depression and the New Deal: key themes and documents. Unlocking American history. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC. p. 216. ISBN 978-1-4408-3462-2.
  5. ^ a b The rise and fall of the New Deal order, 1930–1980. Steve Fraser, Gary Gerstle. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. 1989. ISBN 0-691-04761-8. OCLC 18624135.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. ^ Rotunda, Ronald D. (1986). The politics of language : liberalism as word and symbol (1st ed.). Iowa City: University of Iowa Press. ISBN 0-87745-139-7. OCLC 12751310.
  7. ^ Schickler, Eric (2016). Racial realignment : the transformation of American liberalism, 1932–1965. Princeton, New Jersey. ISBN 978-1-4008-8097-3. OCLC 945697843.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ Cummings, Judy Dodge (2020). Changing laws: politics of the civil rights era. White River Junction, VT: Nomad Press. ISBN 978-1-61930-924-1. OCLC 1199334364.
  9. ^ Gelman, Andrew (November 8, 2013). "The Twentieth-Century Reversal: How Did the Republican States Switch to the Democrats and Vice Versa?". Statistics and Public Policy. 1 (1): 1–5. doi:10.1080/2330443x.2013.856147. ISSN 2330-443X.
  10. ^ See left [2 noun]' and right [2 noun]' in Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2000).
  11. ^ Graham, David A. (February 2, 2017). "Red State, Blue City". Theatlantic.com. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  12. ^ "Similarities and differences between urban, suburban and rural communities in America". Pewsocialtrends.org. May 22, 2018. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  13. ^ Mokalla, Matteen (September 15, 2016). "Why red means Republican and blue means Democrat". Vox. Retrieved November 28, 2022.