Article: The new wave of Liberalism

This is an article I wrote for Marist College's newspaper The Circle and is due out on campus Thursday February 26. Enjoy...



With all the ideological struggle in America over the alleged culture war, it seems natural for there to be massive backlash by the political right in response to the changes Mr. Obama is attempting to push through in Washington. But the change from conservatism to liberalism is nothing new, particularly in American politics. What we may see now, though, is a general shift in public opinion and governmental policy that will reflect a more liberal model.

It isn’t too much out of the ordinary to see minor sways in the government’s policy nor is it uncommon to see slight changes in public opinion over the course of 20 years or so. What is major is seeing a complete realignment of public opinion to another ideology. This type of massive shift is usually a result of massive social and political unrest. We saw this with the election of Roosevelt in 1932 and the election of Reagan in 1980, the public changed their political alignment towards another political view based on economic hardship.

Now we are confronted with a new scenario: was the election of Obama a response against the conservative America built by Reagan, Gingrich, and the Bushes? This is a possibility. It seems as though the voting public dramatically swayed towards liberalism and, in doing so, gave the Democrats a mandate to try out their policy. Pundits have been noting that it seems as though America is fed up with the conservative economic and foreign policy of the previous administrations including Clinton.

The issue now is to what extent is the government going to liberalize. I find it hard to believe that the government will sway as drastically left as conservative pundits are speculating. Although the conservatives are worried about the extent to which the government will liberalize, they must allow Obama to try out his policies to try and better America

It is time for welfare reforms, to increase funding into education, and to mend one of the most tattered healthcare systems in the industrialized world. Who knows? We may even catch up to Europe in our quality of healthcare. We may even catch up to Cuba!

The conservatives have had their opportunity to lead the country, they have been doing so for the last 28 years. Now it is liberals turn to try and run the country with their policies. Trends dictate that within the next 20 years – if Obama succeeds in leading the new liberal movement – there will be a transition back to conservative politics.

I would like to close this article with a quote from conservative columnist Bill Kristol: “Liberalism’s fate rests to an astonishing degree on Obama’s shoulders. If he governs successfully, we’re in a new political era.”

-mike