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Libertarianism Vs Traditionalism Essay

752 Words4 Pages

Libertarians saw the recognition of individual liberty and freedom from government forces as the utmost important elements of society. Traditionalists opposed this view and argued that the “cultivation of virtue in the individual soul” was the highest social good. This tension became known as the freedom-vs-virtue debate and persisted in causing conflict between traditional and libertarian arguments about social morality and family values. Consistent with their belief in the ultimate freedom of individual choice, libertarians believed that restraint of government intervention in personal affairs represented the “removal of an outside influence on how people naturally order their private lives.” Traditionalists opposed a completely undisciplined …show more content…

The conservative search for a powerful political figure was answered by the nomination of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater as the Republican presidential candidate in the 1964 election. Goldwater’s campaign manifested the emergence of modern American conservatism into the national political landscape. Goldwater’s platform promoted limited government, laissez-faire economics, and a balance between order and freedom. For the first time in American political history, a united conservative movement found its voice in a prominent political figure. Though he strayed somewhat from traditional conservative values, Goldwater successfully secured a place for a heterogeneous and inclusive conservative agenda within the Republican Party. Goldwater’s campaign also managed to sever the long-standing alliance between southern voters and the Democratic party. “[His] intense appeal in the South produced a realignment in post-Reconstruction party loyalties, on which both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan would later capitalize” Despite a crushing defeat by Lyndon Johnson in the general election, the Goldwater nomination represented a major success for conservatives. He had successfully assembled conservative ideologies and broad-based grassroots organizations into a singular political

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