Romney vs Obama

In Wednesday’s class we talked about the political spectrum in the US. The two most extreme political positions were socialism/communism and autarchies/monarchism.  As you can see, the left (or socialists) have the largest government and the right (or monarchies) have the smallest government. We also talked about the emergence of the modern conservative and liberal movement in the US. The origin of both of these sides is classical liberalism. Classical liberalism was called liberalism because it liberated the people from the monarchs and oligarchs. Classical liberalism emphasized human rationality, property rights, natural rights, civil liberties, individual freedom and quality before the law, free markets, minimal government intervention and sovereignty of the individual.

The modern conservative movement is a bit to the right of the classical liberal movement. Therefore, the modern conservative movement is also called “neo-liberalism.” Their main philosophy is to conserve what is…traditional etc… They are called traditionalists, libertarians, and anti-communists. Their guiding principles include nationalism, traditionalism and capitalism, opposition to big government— with the exception of military— and non-interventionism.

We also talked about the modern liberal movement. They stand to the left of the classical liberal movement. Most of the modern world thinks of this movement as a moderate movement. This movement values human rights, free/fair elections, social justice, tolerance, social market economy, free trade, environmental sustainability, global citizenship, and group identity rights.

So where are we today? We’re in a zone between a total socialist government and a total free market. That zone is called a welfare state. In the welfare state we’re free to do what we want but we still need things like medical licenses. So everyone has the ability to get a medical license and practice medicine but not everyone has a medical license.

Finally, so where would Romney’s and Obama’s position be on the political spectrum. Let’s discuss a few policies and their stances on them.

Intervention in the affairs of other countries:    

Obama believes that U.S. should intervene “in the affairs of other countries” “only in matters of national security, human rights violations, or specifically asked by the international community.” Whereas Romney believes that we should intervene “only if there is a direct threat to our national security.” This puts Romney closer to the neo-liberals because he follows their non-interventionism principle. This also puts Obama closer to the social liberals because he would intervene when human rights are at stake. 

Affirmative action policies:

Romney is completely against affirmative action policies while Obama is for affirmative action policies. This puts Obama closer to the social liberals because he values social justice. On the other hand, Romney is closer to the neo-liberals’ view.

Environmental policies:

Romney believes that global warming and cooling are out of our control, that we shouldn’t continue to preserve national parks and forests, and that the federal government should not give tax credits to the wind power industry. On the other hand, Obama believes that Global Warming is a threat to the environment, that the government should protect more land, and that the federal government should give subsidies to the wind power industry. So, Obama is closer to the Social liberal side and Romney is closer to neo-liberal movement.

Gay Marriage:

Obama believes that gay marriage should be legal so he is closer to the social liberal movement while Romney believes that marriage should be between a woman and a man so, he is closer to the neo-liberal movement. Romney’s belief that marriage is between a man and a woman is the traditional point of view. So we see that Romney supports the traditional views more—this is consistent with neo-liberalism.

Illegal Immigration:

Obama believes that illegal immigrants shouldn’t be given access to government-subsidized healthcare but their children should be. While Romney believes that no illegal immigrant should be given government-subsidized healthcare. Romney clearly sides with the neo-liberals but Obama sides with both sides. His belief that illegal immigrants should not be given government-subsidized healthcare is a neo-liberal view but the fact that he would give government-subsidized healthcare to the children is a social liberal principle (human rights).

Terrorism:

Obama believes that terrorists who have been caught should not be tortured; this appeals to the human rights principle of the social liberals. On the other hand, Romney believes that enhanced interrogation methods should be used on caught terrorists.

                After looking at these policies and Obama’s and Romney’s stances on them, I believe I would put both Romney and Obama close to the classical liberals but Romney would be to the right and Obama towards the left of the classical liberals. What do you guys think? Should Obama be much closer to the social liberals? Should Romney be closer to the neo-liberals? Should I have brought up other issues in order to get a more complete view of their ideologies?
Source: http://www.isidewith.com/romney-vs-obama-on-the-issues
Interesting quiz you can take that matches your beliefs with either Romney's or Obama's: http://www.isidewith.com/presidential-election-quiz