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List of 140 Political Beliefs

John Spacey, updated on July 03, 2024

Political beliefs are views as to how society should be organized and administered. This includes the role of government and the flavor of its policies. Political beliefs also extend to other elements of life such as how an individual feels social issues should be addressed. Political beliefs relate to fundamental feelings about change vs stability and individualism vs collectivism such that they can be deeply ingrained in the worldview of an individual. The following are common political beliefs.

Liberalism

Free market capitalists who are oriented towards globalism, social justice and social safety nets. In theory, liberals use progressive taxation and industry regulations to moderate capitalism with limited wealth redistribution. Liberals embrace change to address perceived problems and opportunities but don't go as far as progressives. Strongly cooperative and supportive of globalism and international institutions.

Conservatism

Prioritization of tradition and continuation with the past. Conservatives are also oriented towards law and order, defense and protectionism. Conservatives are less prone to support international cooperation and globalism. Support strong laws for crime or perceived disorder but are generally unfriendly to industry regulation and restrictions on capitalism.

Progressivism

Pursuit of aggressive change often based on new ideas. Progressives are generally oriented towards social justice, environmental justice, technological progress and science. The actual positions of progressives can swing wildly from decade to decade.

Socialism

The pragmatic pursuit of a more classless society within a democratic and capitalist nation. All advanced nations do have some features of socialism such as a social safety net, progressive taxation and industry regulations such as workplace safety laws. However, the extent of this varies greatly from country to country. Notably, the United States is generally less socialist than countries such as Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, Netherlands and Canada.

Libertarianism

The pursuit of unbridled individualism and freedom with some law and order provided by government to prevent actual anarchy. This can be viewed as a preference for personal responsibility over solidarity. Under libertarianism, you would not get much support from the government but are also not as hindered by government interference in your life or business.

Fascism

Authoritarian and totalitarian power vested in a leader with a cult-like following. Oriented to the tyranny of the majority and the oppression of minority groups. Fascism is based on a police state and state ideology whereby the state takes over every aspect of life.

Communism

An authoritarian and totalitarian ideology based on the pursuit of equality of outcome whereby a classless society is enforced by the state. Often presented as a "stateless" society where the "community" own all capital and the "community" hold all power. In practice, the "community" here is the state bureaucracy such that the state is actually all powerful and controls every aspect of society. Communism can't be democratic as people would be likely to vote away the power and control of the state. Communist societies generally ban non-state institutions such as religion that they view as competition.

The Political Spectrum

Political beliefs are often depicted as a line moving from left to right. Generally speaking, the left represents breaking with tradition in order to pursue some new social order while the right represents preservation of tradition. As you go "far" left or right, beliefs become totalitarian and authoritarian whereby the government has absolute power and governs ever aspect of life.

Libertarianism is considered right but it actually says nothing about tradition or change and is more oriented towards small government. In some cases, libertarianism adopts positions that are traditionally viewed as left such as free trade.

Personal Political Beliefs

People commonly adopt different political viewpoints towards different elements of policy or social issues. For example, an individual could be socially libertarian such that they feel the government has no role in regulating personal choices but also believe in socialist economics and social spending. The following are a few examples of political beliefs that cross ideological lines. These can actually be common views that are underserved by political parties that tend towards going all the way with a single ideology.