Mrs. Ruland's Advanced Placement United States History Class
Unit 11 — Boom and Bust, 1920-1941
Liberalism, the stickiest word in the political dictionary, is the attitude of those who are reasonably satisfied with their way of life yet believe that they can improve upon it substantially without betraying its ideals or wrecking its institutions. The liberal tries to adopt a balanced view of the social process, but when he faces a showdown over some thoughtful plan to improve the lot of men, he will choose change over stability, experiment over continuity, the future over the past. In short, he is optimistic rather than pessimistic about the possibilities of reform.
Conservatism is committed to a discriminating defense of the social order against change and reform. The conservative knows that change is the rule of life among men and societies, but he insists that it be sure-footed and respectful of the past. He is pessimistic, though not always darkly so, about the possibilities of reform, and his natural preferences are for stability over change, continuity over experiment, the past over the future. The essential difference between conservatism and liberalism is one of mood and bias. No line separates one camp from the other, but somewhere between them stands a man who is at once the most liberal of conservatives and most conservative of liberals. In genuine liberals there is a strain of conservatism, in genuine conservatives a strain of liberalism; and all men, even extreme radicals, can act conservatively when their own interests are under attack.
Last updated December 26, 2002
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