Pros Of Conservatism

What makes a state liberal? How does being categorized as a liberal region correlate with political culture? Liberalism is defined as a state’s tendency to expand welfare benefits, regulate business, adopt progressive state income taxes, and generally use the resources of government to achieve social change (PSC, 15). Compared to more conservative beliefs, liberalism is aimed toward the achievement of equal opportunity and equality for all citizens. Political Science analysis’ construct new policy liberalism rankings for states based on key ideological issues like gun control, abortion laws, welfare eligibility, work requirements, tax progressivity, and unionization. A states’ ideological identification, whether conservative or liberal, closely
correlates with party affiliation. Therefore, it’s important to examine a region for trends to determine political matters. After reviewing rankings of the states, the percentage of residential states identifying as liberal tend to have a higher correlation with Bachelors Degrees, personal income per capita, and the number of minorities residing. Using the scale of the United States, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, Delaware, and Connecticut all rank in the top five liberal ideology states.
Comparing these statistics to the percentages of bachelors’ degree rankings, Massachusetts and Connecticut reappear in the top five for educational rankings. Looking specifically at Massachusetts, the state ranks 1st in both identifying as liberalism and in percentage with bachelor’s degree. The correlation directly points to the idea that the more educated a state is, the more likely it is that the region supports liberalism. At the other end of the spectrum, Mississippi ranks 46th on the chart of identifying as liberal and 48th on the chart of percentage with bachelors’ degree. These two specific states serve as a representative for the rankings of the other listed forty-eight states. It is presumable to draw a line between the percentage of degree-holding citizens and the ideology behind liberalism. According to PSC, there has been a general increase in the educational levels of the U.S. adult population. For example, in 1970 there was about 11% of U.S. adult citizens who obtained an education of four years or more of college; by about 2011 that figure rose to 30%. This increase in educational levels has aspired population growth, income, and continuing education all over the U.S. The aspects that came out of educational growth relate directly back to liberalisms’ key
concepts. Furthering with the connection between states identifying as liberal, personal income per capita serves as a point of focus.
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Washington, and New York all rank in the top ten spots on both percentage of residents identifying as liberal and personal income per capita charts in PSC. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the state of Alabama ranks 49th on identifying with liberalism and 42nd on personal income per capita. According to PSC, capita income represents worker productivity and the amount of wealth within a region. When looking at liberalism’s key concepts, the connection of wealth to the ideology can be made through the regulation of business. Generally, wealth is an acquired and protected position in society. One can infer that wealthier states support the idea of big government regulation and taxation because it can help the ‘elites’ remain elite. It’s important to point out that wealth doesn’t always categorize a region as liberal, rather the charts and concepts of liberalism point to this
association. The numerical amount of minorities residing within a state also carries some influence in determining whether that region identifies as liberal or conservative. According to the charts in PSC, the state of New York ranks 9th on the percentage residents identifying as liberal charts, this region also ranks 4th in the Hispanic population and 1st on the African American population charts. According to PSC, the differences in the racial and ethnic composition of state populations account for much of the variation in the politics of states and cities throughout the nation. A concludable trace can be made between liberalism being aimed toward the achievement of equal opportunity and equality for all citizens to the minority groups in America. In a general sense, minorities often feel absent from social rights, racial discrimination, and the lack of opportunity compared to the majority of Americans. The aim of liberalism to use resources of the government to achieve social change can be and is very attractive to the minority groups residing in America. The idea that minorities sway toward these liberal ideologies is realistically supported. The Rankings of the States shows a clear correlation that liberal-affiliated states have been statistically proving to be ranking higher in percentages with bachelor’s degrees, personal income per capita, and considerably have more minorities within. PSC shows how liberalism can be identified through the ranking of characteristics of state’s residents. It infers a clear path of affiliation between those who obtained a bachelor’s degree or more, to a liberal viewpoint. It also shows a clear connection of how personal income per capita affects a state’s political culture. Lastly, PSC makes a connection between a state’s minorities being more likely to agree and associate with liberal equality concepts. The important point to remember is that American society is an evolving cycle of change, so liberal states can and will often change between political ideology profiles depending on the region’s characteristics.