Topic: Political Systems Instructions: Explain how conservatism and socialism are incorporated in the US political system. Use evidence (cite sources) to support your response from assigned readings or online lessons, and at least one outside scholarly source. Be sure to use examples. Textbook:  Magstadt, T. (2017). Understanding Politics: Ideas, institutions, and issues (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage.  Required Resources: Read/review the following resources for this activity: Textbook: Chapter 3, 4; review Chapter 2 (Section: Ideologies and Politics in the United States) Lesson Additional scholarly sources you identify through your own research Lesson: Political Science Theories: Theories After the fall of Rome, within Western civilizations, the Church ultimately became interwoven with the centralized power of the appointed kings and queens. But over time, philosophers, and then the people, wondered if this was the best way to organize a government. They began by questioning the Church's role in government, and ultimately expanded into an examination of the need for monarchies in general. These thoughts began with the work of Niccolo Machiavelli in Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries. In The Prince, Machiavelli discusses the role of power in maintaining rule. Although not a direct link to democratic thought because he is advising a prince on how to keep his control over the people, his work was one of the first to hint at a need for a separation of church and state, which is a concept that still elicits controversy today. Roughly a century later, Thomas Hobbes also questioned the role of the Church within the government. In writing Leviathan, Hobbes advocated the need for a large governmental structure (thus a leviathan) to rule over the people and he began to question the role of the Church in this process. Although a supporter of authoritarian governments, Hobbes was not a supporter of the Church's power within government. Outside of this premise, he is also known for coining the phrase "state of nature." This idea stems from his examination of what people look like without any government. He saw this state as very bleak, representing utter chaos and strife, because he theorized that without a strong ruling government to keep the peace, people would be at war with one another as they attempted to seize power from one another as a means of getting what they desired and as a way to avoid what they did not. However, in contrast to what he was proposing, by looking at humanity at its core, he introduced the idea of humanity as thinking for itself, which is the foundation of any democracy. It was this concept that John Locke then built upon a few decades later by suggesting that the people move away from an all-oppressive ruler to a government based upon the rule of the citizens with a system of checks and balances,. Locke's ideas serve as the basis of much of the U.S. founding documents, such as the Declaration ...

1. Topic: Political Systems
Instructions:
Explain how conservatism and socialism are incorporated in the
US political system. Use evidence (cite sources) to support your
response from assigned readings or online lessons,
and
at least one outside scholarly source.
Be sure to use examples.
Textbook:
Magstadt, T. (2017). Understanding Politics: Ideas,
institutions, and issues (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage.
Required Resources:
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 3, 4; review Chapter 2 (Section: Ideologies
and Politics in the United States)
Lesson
Additional scholarly sources you identify through your own
research

2. Lesson: Political Science Theories:
Theories
After the fall of Rome, within Western civilizations, the Church
ultimately became interwoven with the centralized power of the
appointed kings and queens. But over time, philosophers, and
then the people, wondered if this was the best way to organize a
government. They began by questioning the Church's role in
government, and ultimately expanded into an examination of the
need for monarchies in general.
These thoughts began with the work of Niccolo Machiavelli in
Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries. In The Prince, Machiavelli
discusses the role of power in maintaining rule. Although not a
direct link to democratic thought because he is advising a prince
on how to keep his control over the people, his work was one of
the first to hint at a need for a separation of church and state,
which is a concept that still elicits controversy today.
Roughly a century later, Thomas Hobbes also questioned the
role of the Church within the government. In writing Leviathan,
Hobbes advocated the need for a large governmental structure
(thus a leviathan) to rule over the people and he began to
question the role of the Church in this process. Although a
supporter of authoritarian governments, Hobbes was not a
supporter of the Church's power within government. Outside of
this premise, he is also known for coining the phrase "state of
nature." This idea stems from his examination of what people
look like without any government. He saw this state as very

3. bleak, representing utter chaos and strife, because he theorized
that without a strong ruling government to keep the peace,
people would be at war with one another as they attempted to
seize power from one another as a means of getting what they
desired and as a way to avoid what they did not. However, in
contrast to what he was proposing, by looking at humanity at its
core, he introduced the idea of humanity as thinking for itself,
which is the foundation of any democracy.
It was this concept that John Locke then built upon a few
decades later by suggesting that the people move away from an
all-oppressive ruler to a government based upon the rule of the
citizens with a system of checks and balances,. Locke's ideas
serve as the basis of much of the U.S. founding documents, such
as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
Liberalism Defined
The Meaning of the Word
Liberal
The term liberal in modern vocabularies has taken on an
entirely different meaning from its original context. Liberal,
when applied to political philosophy, represents a belief that the
government should interfere very little in the daily lives of its
citizens. This notion allows the individual to pursue his or her
own interests without fear of extreme government regulation.
Since The Great Depression, which hit the world the hardest
during the 1930s, the U.S. government has trended towards a
larger government, as have other Western European nations.
This happened as a result of the government providing many
social services to protect its citizens from the likes of economic
disaster and the toils of war. How far you think the government

4. should go in aiding its citizens depends upon which political
ideology most appeals to you. The classic liberal, a
categorization credited to John Locke and also known as the
modern conservative, tends to favor small government, whereas
the modern liberal, modeled on the work of T. H.Green, prefers
more governmental programs.
How far you think the government should go in aiding its
citizens depends upon which political ideology most appeals to
you. The classic liberal, a categorization credited to John Locke
and also known as the modern conservative, tends to favor small
government, whereas the modern liberal, modeled on the work
of T. H.Green, prefers more governmental programs.
Capitalism and Socialism Compared
Capitalism represents the idea of the people controlling the
means of production, with little to no interference by
government. Capitalism is based on the idea of a market driven
economy. This concept simply means that the market (or the
masses) drive what is produced by industry with their demand
for products. For example, if a great deal of people desire a
certain item, then those who produce it will stay in business as
long as the demand continues. However, if demand lags, or dies
out altogether, that same industry will have to evolve to produce
another in-demand product,or leave the market. This demand for
product thus drives what is produced, and then determines
which industries flourish. This system, in its truest sense, leaves
government out of the economic process. Adam Smith, in
writing
The Wealth of Nations
, was an advocate for this type of economic system. However,
over time, it has been discovered that some regulation of
business is needed, for instance, to preventi a monopoly in
order to keep the market competitive.

5. In contrast to this model of low government involvement,
socialism calls for the complete control of production by
government. This is a concept originated by Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels, two political philosophers during the 19th
century, in their Communist Manifesto. Neither man was a fan
of the world in which he was raised, where the
industrial
revolution was taking off and people were suffering under the
harsh working conditions found in pure capitalism. They
believed that if they presented a new economic plan that
replaced the newly established capitalist principles, they could
create a happier world for the individual. This world included
the human rights of the liberal but went even further to ensure
an equal distribution of wealth and goods to the masses. Their
theory argued for a socialist transition, where the government
seizes all the means of production from the masses, as a way of
creating the pathway to communism (or a perfect utopia).
As with any plan, variations in practice can occur. This is
exactly what happened when Russia, the first country to
implement the teachings of Marx, achieved its revolution. Thus,
came the rise of Marxism-Leninism, which varied dramatically
from Marx's proposed plan. The practice of this ideology
resulted in many years of conflict with the West during the Cold
War. The principal powers during that time, the United States
and the Soviet Union, featured two completely different
philosophies regarding government and politics. In the end, the
Soviet Union's political, governmental, and economic
approaches proved to be disastrous for its society, and the
individuals within it. It featured a political process that decided
who got what, when, and how in the most arbitrary manner, and
used the government to execute those decisions brutally and
ruthlessly. In the end, Soviet citizens, tired of being told they
were part of one of the world's great superpowers while waiting
in line for basic necessities, gradually withdrew their interest in

6. and support of their government, and the system eventually
collapsed.
Summary
Studying politics has been an important part of the work of
ancient and modern philosophers. As in most sciences, theories
have evolved as new information has become available and new
ways of exploring become possible. Liberalism split into
conservatism and modern liberalism to form two different
ideologies that same with capitalism and socialism.