Abstract
This research is part of a project that examines the nature of political ideology in the United States and its impact on the formulation of public policy. Here we explore the bases of liberal – conservative dissensus in areas of domestic policy other than business and the economy using a model developed by Janda, Berry, and Goldman. We find that the major elements of dissensus are: a strong conservative disposition to defend order; with a few exceptions a liberal indifference to order as conservatives define it; conservative opposition to the expansion of federal power over states or individuals and/or expansion in federal (and often state and local government) spending unless order is threatened; much greater liberal emphasis on equality; and varying conceptualizations of basic values to the degree that liberals and conservatives seem almost to be talking past each other using two different languages.
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Grafton, C., Permaloff, A. Liberal and conservative dissensus in areas of domestic public policy other than business and economics. Policy Sci 38, 45–67 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-005-1811-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-005-1811-x