John, in response to your statement...."moderate conservatives, whatever that is".....Here's a link from a teaching plan (US News) with some of the descriptions they use...................MOST interesting. Maybe some will now want to go and visit their schools.....
usnewsclassroom.com
Ask students to consider these questions and write responses in their journals, in notebooks, or on a sheet of paper.
What do you think the political terms Democrat and Republican mean? What does it mean to be an independent? List some of the hot-button issues on which Republicans and Democrats differ.
What are the characteristics of a person who has been labeled a conservative or a liberal? How do these two political positions differ in respect to social issues such as race relations, abortion, the environment, or education? How are they different on fiscal policies such as taxation and government spending?
This activity will take approximately two 45-minute class periods to complete. Review with students the broad spectrum of political ideologies that exists in American politics. Students can use their textbooks or a dictionary to define and discuss the following terms, or you can provide the definitions in a lecture-discussion format (basic definitions have been provided here):
Radical: Seen as being on the far left of the political spectrum, radicals call for wide-sweeping rapid change in the basic structure of the political, social, or economic system. They may be willing to resort to extreme methods to bring about change, including the use of violence and revolution.
Liberal: Liberals believe that the government should be actively involved in the promotion of social welfare of a nation’s citizens. Liberals usually call for peaceful, gradual change within the existing political system. They reject violent revolution as a way of changing the way things are, often called the status quo.
Moderate: Moderates may share viewpoints with both liberals and conservatives. They are seen as tolerant of other people’s views, and they do not hold extreme views of their own. They advocate a “go-slow” or “wait-and-see” approach to social or political change.
Conservative: People who hold conservative ideals favor keeping things the way they are or maintaining the status quo if it is what they desire. Conservatives are usually hesitant or cautious about adopting new policies, especially if they involve government activism in some way. They feel that the less government there is, the better. They agree with Jefferson’s view that “the best government governs least.”
Reactionary: Sitting on the far right of the ideological spectrum, reactionaries want to go back to the way things were—the “good ol’ days.” Often reactionaries are willing to use extreme methods, such as repressive use of government power, to achieve their goals.
Explain to students that political parties are loosely formed around these broad political ideologies. Of the two major political parties, for example, Republicans are generally seen as conservative because they advocate a reduction in government. Democrats are generally seen as liberal because they support government regulation of the economy. Within parties, there are people who hold a variety of opinions on social and economic issues that fall along the spectrum of political ideologies, such as moderate Democrats, liberal Democrats, conservative Republicans, and moderate Republicans.
Inform students that these labels have had different meanings, depending on when and where they were used. In Britain, during the 19th century, the term liberal referred to people who opposed government interference in the economy. This definition now refers to conservatives.
Explain that the term right refers to people who hold traditional values. Left is used to describe people who support change in society. These terms originated from the French National Assembly during the French Revolution. All those who supported the monarchy went to the right of the speaker, while those who supported the revolutionaries moved to the left.
The terms republican and democrat have different meanings when written lowercase. A person who supports a republican form of government wants elected leaders rather than a monarch. And a democrat supports a democratic form of government, or a government where the people rule through elected representatives. The Republican and Democratic political parties have evolved over the years. The early political party of Thomas Jefferson was called the Democratic-Republicans, and they were the liberals of their day. That party developed into the Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson, which championed the rights of the common person. The Republican Party was formed to fight the spread of slavery during the 1850s, and their views were seen as quite liberal, if not radical, during the time of Abraham Lincoln. The modern Republican Party, with its conservative reverence for big business, emerged during the economic boom of the 1920s under the presidential administrations of Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge.
Explain that there are two key factors in determining a person’s political ideology:
How much change in government the person is willing to allow, and how quickly he or she believes that change should take place.
How much government interference in the lives of citizens should take place, especially in the area of the economy.
Compare and contrast with your students the ideologies of the major political parties of Western democracy: Democratic, Republican, Reform, Libertarian, Communist, Socialist, Green, etc. Have them consider, for example, how the liberal and conservative parties of Great Britain compare with the Democrats and Republicans of the American political system?
To make these concepts more concrete for the students, have them create a graphic organizer that consists of a continuum, with the terms radical, liberal, moderate, conservative, and reactionary, spaced equally across the line.
Have students list a number of issues (four or five) that face American government today, such as the environment, education, campaign finance reform, etc. Students should contribute to the list, but you can add other relevant issues if they have been left out. Many of these issues are mentioned in the U.S. News article and can be used as the basis for the list.
Then ask students to define the position of each ideological classification as it relates to the issues listed. The continuum might look something like this:
There is more +++++++++++++++++> usnewsclassroom.com |
