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liberalism: Definition and Much More from Answers.com (8408 words) |
 | Political liberalism is the belief that individuals are the basis of law and society, and that society and its institutions exist to further the ends of individuals, without showing favor to those of higher social rank. |
| According to the tenets of this form of liberalism, as explained by writers such as John Dewey and Mortimer Adler, since individuals are the basis of society, all individuals should have access to basic necessities of fulfillment, such as education, economic opportunity, and protection from harmful macro-events beyond their control. |
| As an ideology, liberalism can trace its roots back to the humanism that began to challenge the authority of the established church during the Renaissance, and the Whigs of the Glorious Revolution in Great Britain, whose assertion of their right to choose their king can be seen as a precursor to claims of popular sovereignty. |
| The Demise of Liberalism (2495 words) |
| Liberals imagined a middle class world where the distribution of income was pretty flat: nobody was too rich and absolutely no one was poor. |
| Liberals defended the right of free speech even when both the speaker and the spoken were offensive to almost everyone. |
| Liberalism took on this enormous challenge with the energy of Teddy Roosevelt, the compassion of Franklin Roosevelt, the middle-class goodness of Harry Truman, the intensity of the Kennedys, the determination of LBJ, and the spirituality of Jimmy Carter. |
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