The Valley Torah Scroll

According to Lumen, the definition of a political ideology is, “a certain set of ethical ideals, principles, doctrines, myths or symbols of a social movement, institution, class or large group that explains how society should work and offers some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order.” In the last couple of centuries, there have been many different political ideologies have been used. One popular political ideology is socialism; socialism attempts to create equality between all but still allows a limited form of capitalism to exist. Another Ideology, Anarchism, believes that the idea of a state should not exist at all. In looking at Anarchism, Socialism, and the many other political Ideologies that exist, Liberalism sets a country or state for the greatest success rate because of its emphasis on individual rights, and its strong foundation for economic growth. On the other hand, Communism is the worst political ideology; despite the amazing sound of complete equality for all, communism fails to factor in the natural behavior and greed of humans.

One of the amazing parts that liberalism offers is the focus on an individual’s liberty. Adah Rubens writes,

One of the main advantages of liberalism is that it focuses on the betterment of society—social, political, economic, and cultural growth, progress, and prosperity are essentially the main goals of liberalism. According to liberals and some political analysts, a liberal system is (or at least should be) the foundation of democracy, as liberalism as an ideology is built upon the concepts of liberty, freedom, equality, peace, and protection of and advocacy for human rights (the people benefit from the state, and the state benefits from the people).

Never in human history have humans ever had so much value for human life or human standard of life as they do in today’s day and age; this value corresponds to the rising amount of liberal countries and could be seen in liberalism. Although in general countries that have political ideologies other liberalism also have a better life quality and human life value than countries a couple of centuries ago, countries that follow liberalism are significantly more invested in these values and show an increased amount of effort for an individuals freedom, liberty, equality, peace, and human rights. Chapin Chastity writes, “Liberalism has a reputation for placing a premium on inclusivity and for countering racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, and so on.” In the last couple of years many liberal countries, like the USA, have had major pushes to make sure that all these things like homophobia and racism are cut to a bare minimum. This is all great and all, but in many countries that are not liberal, things like being gay can put one in jail, and in other nonliberal countries women and minorities are treated as under the rest. Countries that are liberal are in general more tolerant toward these minority groups, part of the reason why Liberalism is so great.

Without a good economy, a country will rarely succeed; Using Liberalism, a country is set up with a good foundation for a strong economy. On Parila.com they explain how Liberalism sets up a good economy,

One of the many positive aspects of Liberalism is that it promotes economic growth. [1] The political philosophy does this by adhering to a free market – meaning the market is free from state (government) regulation. Many people know this economic theory as Laissez-Faire, which in English means, let it be (it is the market). [2] When industries are free from regulation, they can set their market standards and prices.

If, for example, the minimum wage by the government is set at a ridiculously high number many businesses won’t be able to survive and many jobs would be lost and millions of people would go into debt trying to build their businesses. By giving flexibility for a business to regulate how it runs it allows each business to build up in the best way possible for it, and with thriving businesses, more jobs will open up and the economy will grow. On the Parilla website, they give an example of Hendry Ford who made one of the first major car companies, Ford,

Henry Ford standardized the automotive industry by utilizing the production line, paying employees $5 a day for an eight-hour workday, and creating a car that most people could afford. [3] He was able to accomplish this, in part, because of the free market principle of Liberalism.

This freedom also promotes competition within each industry. In response to the standards Ford set, other car manufacturers began adopting his methods. New cars appeared in people’s driveways, and these automakers’ employees had more money and more free time to spend their earnings. A free market helps economic growth.

Henry was able to make so many cars at an affordable price for the public and at the same time double the average workers’ pay and shorten their hours because he had the capability of regulating the business as he wishes. With many other political ideologies, regulations are much stricter so it would be much harder to find a business that is optimal at those regulations. Liberalism supports a good economy by putting minimal regulations on businesses.

Communism sounds like a great idea, but it doesn’t take to account the natural greed for more, that humans have. At first glance, what is wrong with everyone being equal? Why can’t everything be distributed equally? This sort of mentality is easy to sell to people who don’t do well in the Capitalist system, but it misses the natural greed of humans. News 24 writes an article on why communism doesn’t work, and they are examples of what life would be like if EFF a communist party in South Africa would take over the republic. The article starts the example by saying that all citizens would have two free meals a day provided by the government. This seems nice, especially for the people who were losing in the capitalist system. But then the government has to pay for all these benefits somehow, so now everyone has to work the job that they are given. Here is when the problems start coming up. Since everyone at the end of the day gets the same amount, then why should anyone go become a doctor when they can just work at a restaurant all day? If there is no promotion or some sort of raise to work for, why would anyone work harder? The problems don’t stop there; News 24 continues to say, ”You cannot rise in a Communist system; you cannot break out of the routine, and you can never pay off the debt you own to The State for so tenderly providing for your needs, so soon people start to quietly rebel against the system.” The people in the systems are so in debt to the county because of the way the communist system is set up that they could not do anything without the government providing it. Eventually, smuggling and thievery will rampage all over the country, all to satisfy the human urge for more that is offered in Liberalism. Communism takes the meaning of life away from its followers, and will never work because of it.

All in all, communism will never work because it doesn’t account for human tendencies, while Liberalism is the best political system because of its foundation for a good economy, and its focus on the freedom and liberty of individuals.

Works cited

Adah, Rubens. “What are the advantages and disadvantages of liberalism and radicalism?” https://www.enotes.com/, notes, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-are-the-advantages-and-disadvantages-o

Chapin, Chastity. “What are the advantages and disadvantages of liberalism and radicalism?” https://www.enotes.com/, notes, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-are-the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-588726.

lumen. “Political Ideology.” courses.lumenlearning.com, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/austincctexasgovernment1/chapter/political-ideology/.

News 24. “Why Communism ALWAYS fails – kept simple for the general reader.” News24.com, 26 August 2014, https://www.news24.com/news24/MyNews24/Why-Communism-ALWAYS-fails-kept-simple-for-the-general-reader-20140826.

Parilla. “economic growth.” parlia.com, https://www.parlia.com/a/economic-growth#explore.