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American ATTITUDES About Government & Politics [AP Gov Review_ Unit 4 Topic 1 (4_1)] | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: American ATTITUDES About Government & Politics [AP Gov Review_ Unit 4 Topic 1 (4_1)]
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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
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