LIBERALISM AND DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA TODAY
This chapter examines two models of politics: the American and the European. In theory and practice, these models share some features. Both more or less protect private property and more or less rely on market prices to guide economic life. But the two models also differ. The American model developed historically as a strong exemplar of the modern idea of politics and liberty. Apart from the United Kingdom, Europeans value government and collective choice much more than the Americans. What are the goals by which the New European should judge these models? Normative answers to that question compose much of the Western philosophical tradition. Instead of trying to add to that tradition, the chapter seeks to explicate the primary goals governments actually pursue: liberty, equality, and welfare.
Keywords: democracy, United States, Europe, equality, welfare, liberty
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