by Leslie Schwab

Created on: May 30, 2009   Last Updated: August 19, 2009

The terms "Liberal" and "Conservative" have had their definitions evolve over the last two hundred years. In the days when countries were ruled by kings and queens, those who were liberal wanted to remove the king as absolute ruler, and have him replaced with another form of government. Conservatives, on the other hand, were content with maintaining the status quo. Today, liberals are regarded as those who believe in large government; that is, the government should ensure that citizens are provided with all basic needs and protections. This requires a large and complex federal bureaucracy; therefore, higher taxes to pay for it. Conservatives, on the other hand, believe in a small federal government that has minimal influence over the lives of its citizens. They believe in lower taxes, so people can use their own resources to provide for their needs. Recent events have clearly shown that neither liberals, nor conservatives have effectively persuaded Americans to accept their respective political philosophies. This has been most clearly demonstrated by the two issues that are of primary concern to most Americans: health care and education.

For one thing, neither political philosophy has the answer to our current health care issues. Liberals believe that government should ensure every American has access to health care by maintaining a single, government-run insurance provider. Ideally, this is the perfect solution, but the problem lies with accomplishing it. Expanding a program as Medicare for all Americans would cost huge sums of money, which could only be subsidized with higher taxes. Administering this program would be an immense task, as well. Conservatives, on the other hand, believe Americans should provide for their own health care, without government interference. This view does not address the problem of providing health care for the uninsured. Firms are contributing less to their employee's health insurance; in fact, a growing number have stopped providing health coverage altogether. Nearly fifty million Americans lack health insurance, because it is either unaffordable, or unavailable because insurance companies won't provide coverage to those with pre-existing medical problems. Neither side has a solution acceptable to the majority of Americans. The real solution lies somewhere in the middle: the offering of a government-sponsored health insurance for those who are unable to attain coverage, while allowing those who hare satisfied with

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