hey there and welcome back to heimler's history and furthermore welcome to the first video for unit 4 of the ap government curriculum this unit is all about how we as americans develop our political beliefs how we measure those beliefs and then how we try to turn those beliefs into policy so in this video we're going to start by talking about the core values of americans and how those affect the way we think about government and politics so if you're ready to get them brain cows milked then oh baby let's get to it okay the objective for this video is as follows explain the relationship between core beliefs of u.s citizens and attitudes about the role of government okay now before we jump in let me just give an honorable mention to my view packet it's got exclusive videos that are not here on youtube and practice questions and ap style practice exams and basically everything you need to succeed in your class and do well on the exam so that's something you're into you know get you click your finger out and follow the link in the description okay so the core beliefs of americans what are they well as hard as it is to say every american believes in the same things the following five values are generally shared by americans of all stripes individualism equality of opportunity free enterprise rule of law and limited government let me just define each of those quickly individualism is a value that places emphasis on self-reliance and independence americans in general are less community oriented compared to various eastern cultures which put community above the individual no here in america it's the big cheese or no cheese as nobody says equality of opportunity means that we believe that every american regardless of their race ethnicity sex religion or whatever deserves equal footing to go after life liberty and the pursuit of happiness we believe that there are or at least ought not be special classes or hierarchies amongst us we are not a people born with saddles on our backs bent low for an aristocracy to ride upon us with boots and spurs okay then we have free enterprise which is a value that has to do with the government's intervention into the economy in general americans like it laissez-faire style which means that we want as little government intervention in the economy as possible we get all giddy when we're talking about the free market and the forces of supply and demand and fourth we have the rule of law this means that we believe every citizen is equal under the law no one has any special privileges there's our boy john adams second president of the united states who summarizing various classical writers said that ours is a government of laws not of men in other words from a poor farmer all the way up to the president no one gets special treatment under the law and fifth we have the value of limited government this is a government whose limits are well defined and is restrained through the separation of powers in the system of checks and balances okay so when i was listing all those out and defining them you probably nodded along if you're an american because those are values that are baked into our dna but if you were paying attention you were probably also going well and why because even though many americans agree on these values in principle there are various competing interpretations of them now it will be far beyond the scope of this video to outline all the competing interpretations but for our purposes it'll be enough to know how the interpretations of these values differ between conservatives and liberals and first a definition of both is an order conservatives in general are those who cherish established institutions and seek to preserve them for the good of society and that's why they're called conservatives they want to conserve the good things that have already been established anything that threatens to overturn those institutions is seen as a threat therefore conservatives tend to emphasize smaller government which provides fewer services to the public liberals in general are those who push for new reforms in order to make society more just and equitable and that's why they're called liberals which is another word for free if conservatives want to tighten the reins on change in society liberals want to let the reins out as long as those changes are going in the direction of increased justice and equity for all so to illustrate this let me just give you an example during the women's rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s women called for equal rights with men they wanted equal pay for equal work for example and no discrimination based on their sex when it came to seeking jobs now conservatives when they oppose this did so for many reasons but chief among them was that encouraging women to work outside the home would destroy the traditional family structure in which the man worked and the wife stayed home so conservatives wanted to conserve the nuclear family structure that had become standard among middle and upper classes in the 1950s on the other hand liberals saw this change as empowering to women and breaking down unjust social structures that limited women's opportunities and so they wanted to let the reigns out on this one so you can see based on one little example how conservatives and liberals view the world differently okay now let's see how each of those sides interprets the five values that i listed earlier when it comes to individualism conservatives hold to what's called self-centered individualism which emphasizes the interest of the individual above the interests of society liberals hold to what's called enlightened individualism which emphasizes the interests of society above the interest of the individual so in the 1960s when president lyndon johnson was rolling out the great society programs a chief component of which was the war on poverty conservatives hated it because it took taxpayer money and redistributed it to the impoverished that of course is a violation of self-centered individualism liberals on the other hand loved it because they believe that a government ought to take care of its poor even if it's at the expense of those who have more when it comes to equality of opportunity conservatives believe in the power of meritocracy which is to say everyone rises in america based on their own toil and sweat and that's what conservatives would call the american dream everyone no matter who you are can make it as long as they work hard enough liberals on the other hand do agree with the idea of a meritocracy but they believe that not all groups start that climb in the same place so think about it like a race conservatives say that everyone ought to start at the same place and whoever finishes first got there because they worked hard they finished last that's because they're lazy and they didn't work liberals would say wait a minute we're all starting at the starting line but half of us have broken legs therefore if it's going to be fair the ones with the broken legs need to start closer to the end now i'm already getting myself into trouble with an explanation like that conservatives would probably look at them and say no those aren't broken legs and the liberals will say yes they are but now when it comes to free enterprise conservatives want the government to stay out of the affairs of businesses and just let the free market determine what's best liberals on the other hand want the government to intervene with appropriate regulations to ensure the safety and equality of the workplace the classic example of this dichotomy is how two different presidents approached the great depression the conservative herbert hoover when the great depression began basically just said you know the market's going to correct itself eventually let's not intervene but when liberal franklin roosevelt replaced him he got busy quick fast in a hurry getting the government way involved in correcting the economy all right now when it comes to the rule of law conservatives tend to see the laws themselves as embodying equality and therefore they emphasize the letter of the law liberals in many cases agree that laws embody equality but they emphasize the unequal application of those laws especially with regards to minority groups for example consider the civil rights act of 1964 which basically outlawed all discrimination based on race ethnicity and gender conservatives would say look we passed the law and that embodies equality for everyone liberals would say yeah well we passed the law but due to its unequal application minorities are still not equal and finally when it comes to the value of limited government conservatives want to define strong boundaries of federalism which leads to less government interference with people's lives liberals to a much greater degree embrace the need for government intervention in society for the sake of the greater good so yeah all in all americans agree that these five values are things that we all believe in but depending on whether you're talking to a conservative or liberal you will get a very different interpretation of those values okay thanks for watching click right here grab my ultimate review packet which has everything you need to get an a in your class and a five on your exam in may if this video helped you and you want me to keep making them then by all means subscribe and i shall oblige heimler out