1 | P a g e M o d e r n v s . C l a s s i c a l C a s s y J o h n s t o n

Modern Liberalism

Humanities 30

Cassy Johnston

June 8th, 2010

Mr. Kabachia

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2 | P a g e M o d e r n v s . C l a s s i c a l C a s s y J o h n s t o n

Liberalism was first introduced many years ago and continues to develop to this day. Classical

liberalism being the original version, which includes economic freedom, self interest and competition.

Modern liberalism is the contemporary version of liberalism which includes the principles of welfare

state, welfare capitalism and human rights and labor standard and unions. As you can see the modern

version of liberalism includes principles to protect the people and create a stable environment where

people can be protected from poverty. In some individuals eyes this is a positive because individuals are

protected by a safety net and therefore can work harder. In the eyes of others, they people have a

safety net to fall back on and therefore don’t need to work as hard. In the following sources we see both

sides of the discussion, and the pros and cons of both.

Source one states that welfare state is a positive principle that is implemented into society. It

says that when there is no fear of hunger and homelessness then people can develop their individual

strengths and take economic risks. This allows for more people to work towards their goals and creates

more chance of success; the more success in a community means the more growth and moving forward.

Source two, on the other hand, is opposed to the idea of modern liberalism. It states that when

individuals have a safety net to fall back on they will not work as hard and not strive for success because

they know they will never fall to poverty and will always be safe. The source says that if we are creating

a safety net by applying welfare for the poor (ie. More taxes) then we are just taking from the people

who have made it on their own and who are wealthy and just handing it over to the poor. It states that

this is an ineffective way to move a society forward and will just spread hunger around the globe. The

third and final source also is opposed to modern liberalism, and basically questions how if the economic

boom benefits everyone then what good is it. In this we see the principles of competition, self interest

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3 | P a g e M o d e r n v s . C l a s s i c a l C a s s y J o h n s t o n

and economic freedom being favored. Source three wants individual success and emphasizes self

interest opposed to the interest of everyone.

When we look at all of the sources we see that the second and third source are both supporting

the ideology of classical liberalism opposed to source one which supports modern liberalism. Source one

believes in the idea of welfare capitalism and welfare state and providing the people with a safety net so

that they do not need to live in fear of poverty. By making sure people are unable to slip into poverty,

welfare states makes the gap between the rich and the poor smaller and helps society as a whole move

forward and grow. Source two and three are opposed to this idea of a safety net because they believe it

will make people not want to work because they know they will never become poor. Source three and

two are more for the individual instead of the collective and believe that self interest and competition

are more important. They believe that the society will be able to move forward because no one is

resting on a safety net, but instead are all working to keep themselves out of poverty. All in all modern

liberalism could not exist without the creation of classical liberalism and some principles are the same

but modern liberalism is focused more towards the good of the people as a whole and classical more to

the good of the individuals.

There are positives and negatives to both ideologies and both have differing effects on society.

Weather you focus on the good of the individual or the good of the community you will always have

different results. In the end source one favors welfare state and welfare capitalism and the ideology of

modern liberalism. Source two and three support the ideology of classical liberalism and are more

supportive of self interest and competition.

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