American Conservative Political Philosophy

The Classical Conservative Definition:
A classical conservative values tradition and freedom over governmental power. Conservatives, under this definition, advocate a free market economy without governmental intervention. Conservatives tend to view government as a necessary evil, whose primary responsibility is to protect people from violation of their rights and freedom by others. Conservatives distinguish this from government taking action to guarantee people's rights and freedom (a subtle, but important distinction). Conservatives think of morality as something that binds people into groups through loyalty and authority (in certain cases, substituting religion for authority). Conservatives tend to be tribalists.

There is likely not as much difference between the two philosophies as you may have thought. The distinctions are subtle, but they do lead to a different philosophy of both the purpose, and responsibilities of government. Distinctions between the two philosophies shift and morph to suit the politics of the day.

Conservatives are usually regarded as associated with the Republican Party, liberals with the Democratic Party. This is an over-generalization.

Both parties embrace certain conservative and liberal tendencies. Moreover, it does not account for those that do not affiliate with either party, standing as independents, a very large segment of America's political society.

Start The Campaign Early For Political Science Scholarships

Many policy and decisions makers, and some of the country's most influential people, got their start by studying political science. If you plan to major in poli sci in college you better hit the campaign trail early if you're interested in receiving political science scholarships.

Most colleges offer political science scholarships through their political science departments. These grants, fellowships and awards are often given in honor of alumni or local community leaders.

The big political science scholarship bucks, however, lie with national organizations, many of which fall into the public policy center/institute/endowment arena. This is a double edged sword. On one hand, there are lots of institutes with lots of scholarship dollars to pass out. On the other, most of the scholarships pull applicants from across the nation so there is plenty of competition.

A good place to start looking for political science scholarships is the APSA. The American Political Science Association is a professional organization with 15,000 members in 80 countries. One of the group's many undertakings is a scholarship program.