Lesson #4 - Liberalism

Rankings(D/ii)
By: Ameer Barakat
Introduction
While deciding which ideals this list was
difficult, I concluded with the following:
individual rights, equality, freedom,
democracy, and tradition. There are also
particular reasons in which I decided the
terms from greatest to least (importance).
 This one simply does not fit in much with the fact that
every individual is entitled conducting their own cultures
and traditions. In a liberalism society, individuals have
rights, and they serve as an individual. Traditions are
mostly held in groups and doesn’t have much to do with
liberalism. At least compared to the other terms on the list
it doesn’t. Compared to the other it lacks some of the
aspects and factors of a liberalism in a society.

5. Tradition
 According to Oxford Languages, democracy is “a system
of government by the whole population or all the eligible
members of a state, typically through elected
representatives.” In summary democracy is a way the
people are involved with the decision making with the
elected officials/representatives. I believe this is at the
fourth spot because it is no as important as the others
mentioned. Democracy was put here because the 3 above
deal with the people MORE. Democracy has potential
because it presents the fact that people have voting
rights. People have the right to pick who they personally
want to the run the society. This is not higher because it
does not ensure their vote gets the pick. Democracy also
means that the citizens don’t have full power and control.

4. Democracy
The ideals of liberalism societies are more sided on people
rights. Although, in a society that uses a democracy,
people have all types of rights. For example, they have:
freedom of speech, expression, religion, and the right to
equal protection of the law. If democracy was compared
to individual rights, in this situation, it's very different. This
is because individual rights refers to all the rights people
are given. Democracy is a part of individual rights because
people are then given the right to freedom. Then, take for
example freedom, it can be very close. They are very close
and similar in terms of ideals. They both discuss the
privileges people are given. Compared to traditions, it has
way more potential on the list following the ideals.
 Freedom was put at the third spot in the list because it serves a
midpoint in this list. Freedom resort to things like power or
general rights like (speech). Freedom also includes the
independence that people are given. Everyone is issued to their
on freedoms whether they don’t like it or not. Some of the
things on this list server more/less purpose. Freedom is like the
midpoint to everything since it does describe the ideals of
liberalism. In our world, people like to think that freedom and
equality are the same thing. They may seem similar, but they
are directly opposed to each other. Freedom is the certain
privileges that people are given. While, equality refers to how
people are treated. Equality specifically means the treatment of
people in the same way. I decided to pick equality over

3. Freedom
freedom because equality is how everyone is treated. While
freedom is important to the privileges people are given, I
believe that equality is important because it presents the
opportunity people are given, obviously equally. People should
be able to have the same opportunities in order to build the
best place to live in. A society needs to ensure they have future
leaders with their talents. Equality reduces the amount of
violence, and increases healthier places. In the chart (to the
left), it explains how equal opportunity is at a high spot along
with freedom of speech and religion. Freedom is close but not
there yet. I think Freedom is somewhat important compared to
equality but lacks a few things. Although, it may not seem like
much freedom is very crucial. Compared to democracy and
tradition, freedom fulfills all ideals of the liberalism trait.
Freedom has more importance than tradition, because
tradition is not long term. Freedom is long term rights that
people have.
 Like said, equality is really important in a society using
liberlistim. Equality is about ensuring that everyone has an
equal chance to reach their full potential and enjoy their lives. It
is also a belief that no one should be disadvantaged in their life
because of their birth, where they come from, what they
believe, or whether they have a disability. Equality is more
important than tradition because equality has a long term
effect on people. Since liberalism focuses on the people,
equality at the #2 spot is a no brainer. Equality is the foundation
of the world because we depend on opportunities in our lives
everyday. Every single day, at least one person is treated with
equality. Students are all permitted to attend school, and they
have the rights too. Students are put into a school with the
same people and the same opportunities. Each and every
person has a way of presenting themselves (talents). In
libertism, the equality of individuals is important because all
people have the same rights. Either different gender or race,
people are given all the SAME rights. Equality is more
important than democracy because democracy is where the
population has the freedom to choose their leader. Liberalism
focuses on the people and the responsibilities they held too. I
choose equality over freedom. Freedom is an important part of
the privileges people are given, but I believe that equality is also
important because it provides the opportunity people are

2. Equality given, no matter who they are. Everyone should be able to have
the same opportunities to help make the community the best
place to live. A society needs to identify and nurture the talents
of future leaders. Equality reduces violence and promotes more
peaceful places.
 The term “individual rights” is at the top because the word is
associated with rights overall. I believe that liberalists must
believe in a world with rights for individuals. The prefix ‘liber’

1. Individual Rights means free. Free refers to the people and their abilities that
they are restricted to in a society. Many liberalists refer to the
rights and civil liberties that are promoted in this theory. The
idea of people, and what the people need is the main aspects
of this ideology. For example, other ideologies might focus on
different goods (communism) and even oppressive
governments (tyranny). When we discussed this in class, most
of the class definitions are defined as rights that individual
people are given. And this excluded groups of people, like
certain races and ethnicities. When I think of liberalism, I think
of the term “liberal.” I also think about the beliefs and mindsets
they each have. For example, ways that people are more liberal
side, or conservative. According to this article, issued about
liberalism, it states, “Liberals espouse a wide array of views
depending on their understanding of these principles, but they
generally support private property, market economies,
individual rights (including civil rights and human rights).”
Meaning, people with a “liberal” mindset continue to think a
certain way about individual rights. It just seemed like a
no-brainer choosing individual rights at the top.
 Some terms I would consider adding is civil
liberties. Civil liberties are freedoms that the
Additional Terms to Add To government cannot abridge too. They may refer as
rights, but they’re actually restraints on how the
the List government can treat its citizens. This relates to
liberalism because it refers the rules and freedoms
people have. Liberalism has the root word “liber‘
1. Individual Rights meaning free. Civil liberties are the simple things
which makes the people free. I feel like this is
2. Equality important because it talks about the people and
the role of the government of this society does
3. Freedom take place. Finally, if I were to rank this on the list
with all the other terms, it would fit into the #3
4. Civil Liberties spot. Another term, I would add to the list is rule of
law. According to Stanford, “It means that the state
5. Rule of Law uses law to control its citizens but tries never to
allow law to be used to control the state.” This is
6. Democracy not as important top put into the top 3, but it has
some potential on the list. This correlates with
7. Tradition liberalism because it has to do with some of the
control the state uses on the people. If I were to
put this on the list, I think it’’ end being at the 5th
spot. (my final list on the left )
 Works Cited

Courtland, Shane D., et al. “Liberalism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 22 Feb. 2022, plato.stanford.edu/entries/liberalism/.

Klein, Daniel B. “The Origin of 'Liberalism'.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 13 Feb. 2014,

www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/02/the-origin-of-liberalism/283780/.

“Liberalism.” Liberalism - By Branch / Doctrine - The Basics of Philosophy, www.philosophybasics.com/branch_liberalism.html.

“Liberalism Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/liberalism.

Meiser, Jeffrey W., and About The Author(s

Jeffrey W. Meiser is an Assistant Professor in Political Science at the University of Portland. “Introducing Liberalism in International Relations

Theory.” E, 5 Aug. 2018, www.e-ir.info/2018/02/18/introducing-liberalism-in-international-relations-theory/.

“Liberalism.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/topic/liberalism.

“Liberalism.” Oxford Reference, www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100103823.

“The Literature of Liberalism.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, www.economist.com/open-future/2018/08/29/the-literature-of-liberalism.