Because the concepts of liberty or freedom change in different historical periods the specific programs of liberalism also change. The final aim of liberalism, however, remains fixed, as does

its characteristic belief not only in essential human goodness but also in human rationality. Liberalism assumes that people, having a rational intellect, have the ability to recognize problems and solve them and thus can achieve systematic improvement in the human condition. Often opposed to liberalism is the doctrine of conservatism, which, simply stated, supports the maintenance of the status quo. Liberalism, which seeks what it considers to be improvement or progress, necessarily desires to change the existing order.

Neither individualism nor the belief that freedom is a primary political good are immutable laws of history. Only in the Western world in the last several centuries have they assumed such importance as social factors that they could be blended into a political creed. Although Christianity had long taught the worth of the individual soul and the Renaissance had placed a value upon individualism in limited circles, it w

In the 1970s, legal crusaders like Ralph Nader, famous for exposing the safety hazards of General Motors cars, filed class action suits to fill the vacuum created by the collapse of social science. The naacp the American Civil Liberties Union, the Legal Services Corporation, or one of the many "Naderite" public interest law firms was as likely to sue government on behalf of aggrieved minorities as to defend it. Liberalism became increasingly associated not with a broad majoritarian politics but with a court-imposed politics, whether dealing with racial and gender quotas or with pollution control standards The Roosevelt administration spawned a revolution in national politics. The electoral surge to the party was immense, particularly at the lower end of the social scaleThey argued that the promotion of equality of opportunity and the provision of a level of economic security demanded vigorous government spending and authority - not intermittently in response to emergencies but permanently, as a legitimate function of federal policymaking. The shift from the once hallowed Democratic commitment against government power could not have been more profound.

Civil rights aside, however, post-Truman liberalism was increasingly driven not by a popular mandate but by professional reformers. Liberalism in the 1960s rested in large measure on the newly acquired prestige of the social sciences, particularly economics and sociology.

By 1900, L. T. Hobhouse and T. H. Green began to look to the state to prevent oppression and to advance the welfare of all individuals. Liberal thought was soon stating that the government should be responsible for providing the minimum conditions necessary for decent individual existence. In the early 20th cent. in Great Britain and France and later in the United States, the welfare state came into existence, and social reform became an accepted governmental role.

In 1997, Clinton combined tax cuts and reductions in spending to produce the first balanced federal budget in three decades. During both his terms Clinton took an active interest in environmental preservation, and by 2000 he had set aside more than three million acres (1.25 million hectares) of land in wilderness or national monuments, protecting more acreage in the lower 48 states than any other president. Clinton benefited during his entire presidency from a strong economy, leading the country during an unprecedented period of economic expansion and, with some partisan critics giving credit to skill and some to luck, making a steady national prosperity the hallmark of his administrations. He left office having revived and strengthened the national Democratic party, which he guided toward more centrist positions, emphasizing fiscal responsibility, championing the middle class, and reversing many of the public's negative stereotypes

Some topics in this essay:
Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Corporation Naderite, France United, Origins Neither, , Wagner Act, Britain United, Education Topeka, Social Security, classical liberalism, social security, civil rights, change historical, lyndon johnson, laissez-faire economics, human rationality, civil liberties, poverty rate, 13 percent,