Conservatism and Liberalism are political ideologies that differ in their intellectual structures. Conservatism includes two Christian doctrines: Universal equal rights and original sin. This lead to the conclusions that freedom is the most precious and fragile blessing we possess and also that no single individual or group can be trusted to protect and preserve it for us. (Shlichta p. 1, 2011) Conservatives believe that society should have balanced powers between different groups. No single group should become powerful enough to outweigh the others, which is very difficult to maintain in a society. They also believe in personal responsibility, limited government, free markets, individual liberty, traditional …show more content…
Conservatives believe the role of the government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals. Liberals believe that the role of the government is to alleviate social ills and to protect civil liberties, and individual and human rights. They also believe the role of the government should be to guarantee that no one is in need. (Student News Daily p. 1, 2010) Some issues that conservatives support are the death penalty, charter schools, the use of energy, and that the second amendment gives citizens the right to keep and bear arms. Some issues that liberals support are abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, free or low-cost government controlled health care, legal immigration, the separation of church and state, same sex marriage, and welfare. It frequently happens that a person is liberal on some of these issues and conservative on others. For example, American conservatives general favor free trade but are also concerned about the repression of religion in Chine. This leaves them to grapple with the question of what sort of trade relations the United States should maintain with China. (Shively p. 25,