Compare and Contrast American Liberalism and Marx’s Ideal of Communism

American Liberalism and Marx's ideal of Communism are based on two

very different but closely related ideologies. American Liberalism is

based on the ideology of Classical Liberalism or Liberalism. Marx's

ideal of Communism, on the other hand, is based on the Socialism

ideology. Both of these ideologies came to because people didn't agree

with the way thing were being run at that time. After studying them

both closely, because of they way I have been taught in school and at

home that people are selfish, I believe that socialism, as good as it

sounds, could never come to be because of how selfish people are.

Ideology is a word that has many definitions but, in Ball and Dagger

ideology is defined as a fairly coherent and comprehensive set of

ideas that explains and evaluates social conditions, helps people

understand their place in society, and provides a program for social

and political action. These four functions that describe ideology will

set Socialism apart from Classical Liberalism.

Liberalism was a rebellion against religious conformity and ascribed

status of the medieval era. Some people of that time believed that the

church and state should be two different entities instead of being

intertwined with one another. The people wanted religious freedom and

could not do that without change occurring. Ascribed status was also a

major factor contributing to the move to Liberalism. People in the

middle ages were tired of the fact that they could not move up in

society because they had not been born into a noble family. They

decided that people should be able to work to reach a certain status,

or "achieved status". One of the main foundations of liberalism the

encouragement of individual liberty, by any means necessary.

Capitalism is the economic system that is associated with liberalism,

and in this kind of society individuals are free to pursue their own

means of gaining profit without intervention of any sort of

government. Liberalism included having a government, but the

government would be small and have little power that would be used to

protect the people and their rights to freedom.

The idea of socialism has been around for hundreds of years counting

back to the days of Plato (circa 380 B.C.), who constructed Plato's

Republic, an early rendering of the idea of socialism. Years later

another man by the name of Sir Thomas More created his own version of

socialism, More's Utopia, where collective ownership kept a person

from the sins of pride, envy and greed. But the name most associated

with Socialism is Karl Marx, which he said socialism is explained by

the notion "from each according to his ability, to each according to

his need." Marx said that government would be open and all people

would rule together and everything would be publicly owned and shared.

This meant everyone would have the opportunity to become the best they

could be. The economic system associated with Socialism is Communism.

Liberalism and Socialism are two very different ideologies. While

comparing the description of governments a person can that Classical

Liberalists believe that there still should be a small central

government in