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Conservatism In Politics

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The 2016 presidential election between the Democratic Party – which was represented by Hillary Clinton – and the Republican Party – represented by Donald Trump – involved the discussion of opinions on many issues of concern in the American society. These ideas and opinions expressed by each party and their elected representatives are political ideological stances. In Eric Mintz, O. Croci and D. Close’s book, Politics, Power, and the Common Good, they state that each political ideology offers a distinct view on how our world and government operates and, also, offers a distinct understanding of how to address certain issues affecting citizens (Mintz, Croci & Close 51). The presidential debates along with each party’s platforms acted as guides …show more content…

Conservatism is a political ideology that is based on the belief that we are all, as humans, “inherently imperfect, with limited capacity to reason” (Mintz, Croci & Close 58). Because of this limited capacity to reason, conservatives argue that society is prone to evil and mischief. To address this, the government must enforce laws to keep people under control; the people are then prompted to respect this government authority (Mintz, Croci & Close 58). One example of this is in Donald Trump’s support of “stop-and-frisk” police practice, which allows officers to stop, question, and search anyone they deem suspicious on the streets; despite the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois accusations of racial profiling of African-Americans (Gorner). In an appearance on the television show “Fox and Friends,” Trump stressed, “Chicago is out of control […] [Chicago] I think stop-and-frisk with good strong, you know, strong law and order” (Gorner). In other words, Trump supports the conservative notion that society needs law and order enforced by the government, through the police, to retain the citizens’ respect of their government

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