e. freedoms and liberties granted.
Modern America embraces and reveres the ideals above. This leaves modern liberalism with the chore of expanding these rights. The focus has now shifted from the attainment of these rights to the perfection of them. In the above statement I mean to show that liberal ideas of freedom and liberty have changed considerably. This can be clarified by the following quote: "A man who was poor, uneducated, ill-housed, and subject to the fluctuations economic cycle could not be considered free though he lived in a nation whose government abided by the tenets of laissez-faire. True liberty, liberals began to contend, required the ability of man to use his talents and energies in a constructive fashion-it meant the positive freedom to achieve and accomplish." (Volkomer, 4).
This quotation suggests that modern liberals now see it as the.
government's responsibility to level the playing field for individuals who would otherwise be at a disadvantage. The freedom to achieve one's own potential is one of the prime objectives of modern liberalism (Merquior, 1991). This has led to the development of affirmative action and other programs such as welfare. The opportunity to reach one's capacity has joined the other inalienable rights as the desired outcome of a positive government. Ideally, people would derive freedom and happiness from the satisfaction of achievement and inventiveness. True freedom should be unfettered from poverty, oppression and inequality; this liberty was considered the natural state of humanity.
Franklin Roosevelt made strides in the attainment of this natural state. The "New Deal" of the thirties was not only a means to economic recovery but also an attempt to move equality and liberty into their proper places in the American system (Dunbar, 1991). Roosevelt's "New Deal" is an example of an action with two reactions; it prevailed over the great depression and changed the government's role in freedom.