For this post, we’ll take a look at four political ideologies and how followers of those ideologies would stand on certain social issues. The social issues, for the purposes of this argument, would be abortion, gay marriage, and legalizing marijuana.
ABORTION
— Those who favor a pro-choice stance on abortion: liberals, libertarians, socialists
— Those who favor a pro-life stance on abortion: conservatives
GAY MARRIAGE
–Those who favor gay marriage: liberals, libertarians, and socialists
–Those who oppose gay marriage: conservatives
LEGALIZING MARIJUANA
–Those who favor the legalization of marijuana: liberals, libertarians, socialists
–Those who oppose the legalization of marijuana: conservatives
Let’s go back to an earlier post on ideologies. In that post, you’ll see the relationship between the size and scope of government and how government subsequently handles economic issues. Socialists believe in a more active federal government when it comes to the economy, while libertarians believe in a “hands off” government when dealing with economic issues. Liberals and conservatives are somewhere in between those two ideologies. What we haven’t defined is the idea of the size and scope of government when it comes to social issues.
Is there one particular ideology that seems to be consistent in its beliefs on both an economic and social issue scale? (For example, do liberals take the same pro-active government approach to the economy as well as to being involved in an individual’s social decisions. Are conservatives opposed to government intervention in both economic and social issues?)
Politics Matters 