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The Underlying Philosophical Differences, Similarities, and Consequent Flaws Between Political Ideologies

The philosophical differences between the two leading political ideologies (liberalism vs. conservatism) is a key component of the disagreement between the two, however it is often left unspoken. It seems clear that one of the key aspects of disagreements between these two viewpoints rests on the notion of where to attribute responsibility. Conservatives tend to allocate responsibility on the individual in the free market, and to society in terms of morality, whereas liberals tend to attribute responbility to society in terms of individual economic status, and to the individual in terms of morality. This point is very often discussed. However, the philosophical difference between these two viewpoints regarding the allocation of resonsibility rests on the debate in philosophy regarding determinism vs. free will.

DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONSIBILITY IN TERMS OF ECONOMIC STATUS:

Liberal economic policies are driven by a deterministic framework of responsibility allocation. Under a determinsitic framework, it could be possible to assume that an individual is not responsible for either their successes or their failures, and as such a system such as capitalism is both unjustly rewarding, as well as punishing, individuals for their ability to compete in a free market. Individuals, they contend, are only able to compete so much as their natural talents, luck, society, and other variables will allow them to. To this extent, they do not have any significant type of control over their own welfare so to speak, as these other pre-determined factors will dictate their available options to choose form (if one is willing to go with a softer version of determinism that allows for individual limited choice). With this perspective, the level of social programs within our socio-capitalist system should increase due to this lack of control on behalf of the individual to act in a manner so as to dictate his or her own level of success or failure.

Conservative economic policies, on the other hand, are driven by the notion of allocating personal responsibility to economic status. Therefore, these policies will tend to promote free markets, with little governmental regulation. However, there is a gross bastardization which can occur when a pro-business model is adopted through programs that provide corporate welfare. This perspective feels that it is up to the individual to navigate the

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