ConservatismGina, Mio, Clara

What is a conservative?

Traditional Conservative• Focused on economics

• Favor tax cuts and resist all but the minimum antitrust, trade, and environmental regulations on corporations.

• Globalization, free markets, and limited government stimulate economic growth.

Social Conservative• Focused on morality and

lifestyle

• Strong governmental action to enforce laws regarding social and moral values

Conservative believe in personal responsibility, limited government, free markets, individual liberty, traditional American values and a strong national defense.  They also believe the role of government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their

own goals.

Meet Matthew Philips…

Middle-aged

Family Man (wife & two

kids)

Businessman(Marketing)

Republican

Christian

Traditional & Social Conservative

Prayer in Public Schools

Prayer and religion should be mandatory in schools in order to strengthen the moral fiber of our children in school. It is perfectly appropriate for school officials, acting in authority given them by the government, to impose religious behavior on students.

Gun Control

The Second Amendment gives citizens the right to keep and bear arms. Individuals have the right to defend themselves.

Censorship

Censorship should be prohibited, because it violates our freedom of speech.

Abortion Rights

Abortion is murder and must be stopped at all costs.

Adoption

Adoption is only unacceptable for same-sex couples.

Affirmative Action

Individuals should be admitted to schools and hired for jobs based on their ability. It is unfair to use race as a factor in the selection process.

Animal Experimentation

It is morally acceptable. The research being done directly benefits humans

and even animals.

Production of Biological Weapons

History shows that the United States is the global force for spreading freedom, prosperity, tolerance and peace. It is the duty of the U.S. to stop production of biological weapons in other countries.

Capital Punishment

The death penalty is a punishment that fits the crime of murder. It is neither ‘cruel' nor

‘unusual.'  Executing a murderer is the appropriate punishment for

taking an innocent life.

Cloning

It is morally and ethically wrong for the government to fund

embryonic stem cell research.  Human life begins at

conception. The extraction of stem cells from an embryo

requires its destruction. In other words, it requires that a human

life be killed.

Drug Legalization

Drugs are illegal because the drugs—even if only

marijuana—will increase the harm already suffered by

the drug-using larger numbers of people.

Euthanasia

It is immoral and unethical to deliberately end the life of a

terminally ill person. Legalizing euthanasia could lead to doctor-assisted suicides of non-critical

patients.

Gambling

Global Warming

Homelessness

Homosexual Marriage

Immigration

Media Violence

Criticism of Conservatism• Supports more government control only when it

serves their needs, but opposes it when it serves somebody else’s needs

• Places too much faith in the market economy▫ Collapse of savings and loans companies in 1980s▫ Energy crisis in California in the early 2000s

• Lowering taxes causes an increase in deficit•Does not acknowledge or endorse policies that deal

with sexism and racism and weakens the enforcement of these laws through the executive branch and the courts▫ Civil right laws in the 1960s▫ Affirmative action