CHAPTER 2

THE IDEA OF THE

PUBLIC GOOD:
IDEOLOGIES AND
ISMS
 The Idea of the Public Good
• In contemporary democratic politics,
little debate about public good—that
the end of politics should benefit the
political community as a whole;
instead, disagree about the means to
this end
• Ideologies: closed political systems of
political ideas that helps to interpret
events, explain human behavior and
justify political action; most Americans
are not idealogues
 The Idea of the Public Good

• Antigovernment Ideologies: Anarchism

(oppose any government), nihilism
(desires destruction of all existing
social and political institutions), and
libertarianism (government must be
minimal and individual rights are
paramount).
 The Idea of the Public Good
• Right-Wing Ideologies
– Fascism: mass movement emphasizing racial
superiority, obedience to authority and
ultranationalism
– The Religious Right: right wing movement
emerging in the 1980 whose politics were an
outgrowth of fundamentalist and evangelical
Protestantism; heavily influenced 2004 election
– Capitalism: most powerful Western ideology and
economic theory that celebrates individualism,
hard work, independence and personal initiative
 The Idea of the Public Good
• Left-Wing Ideologies: Collectivist ideologies that insist served by
common ownership of the means of production and distribution
– Socialism: rejects capitalism and private ownership; roots in the
utopian socialists like Saint-Simon an Fourier
– Revolutionary Communism: Grew out of writings of Marx,
Engels and later Lenin; all history is the history of class
struggle; revolutionary change is inevitable as capitalism carries
the seeds of its own destruction; Lenin added guns to the
equation, as sometimes the inevitable must be prodded a bit.
– Democratic Socialism: Incorporate ends of socialism into
means of democratic political order; use welfare state policies
to alleviate poverty and redistribute wealth, especially in
Scandinavia and Western Europe; different from
Eurocommunism in which “revolutionary” parties grudgingly
participate in democratic process by forming political parties.
Ideologies in the American Context

• “Liberals” and “conservatives” in the

U.S. stem from the same roots; differ
over which rights are most important
• Liberals emphasize social, political
and economic equality
 Ideologies in the American Context
• Conservatives: promote prosperity, economic rights
and equal opportunity. The conservative canon:
– Locke: the idea of the commercial republic and
protection of private property
– Montesquieu: identified numerous societal
benefits of business and commerce
– Smith: primary theorist of laissez-faire capitalism;
argued that the “invisible hand” of the marketplace
better organized society than governmental
intrusion
Ideologies in the American Context

• Essential difference between liberals and

conservatives is the view of human
nature. Liberals see human nature as
good or at least malleable, conservatives
see it as selfish and unruly. This
difference leads to differences in public
policy, such as conservative emphasis on
law and order and the protection of
property rights or liberal emphasis on
international cooperation.