What is liberalism?

The Politics Guys

Michael Baranowski

News, Politics

4.4 • 783 Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Trey and Justin continue their series on contemporary political ideologies by examining liberalism. They explore its historical roots, key thinkers like Hobbes and Locke, and the evolution of liberal thought through figures such as Mill and Rawls. The discussion highlights the differences between classical and social liberalism, the implications of social contract theory, and the critique of liberalism by communitarians. The conversation concludes with reflections on the future of liberalism and its relevance in modern politics. Major topics discussed include Liberalism’s roots in the Enlightenment and emphasizes individual liberty Social contract theory Hobbes and Locke provide contrasting views on human nature The connections between the Declaration of Independence and Locke Mill’s expansion of the concept of liberty Adam Smith's economic theories and their alignment with classical liberalism Social liberalisms desire to ensure meaningful choices for all individuals John Rawls and the concept of the veil of ignorance to discuss justice Check out Tim’s Substack⁠ The Politics Guys on ⁠Facebook⁠ | ⁠X⁠ Check out the excellent ⁠Sustainable Planet⁠ podcast. Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level of support at⁠patreon.com/politicsguys⁠ or⁠ politicsguys.com/support⁠. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys. The Politics Guys is part of⁠ The Democracy Group⁠, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Atheists, agnostics, long-haired, winters, short-haired winters, vandal,
0:05.6	Gula.
0:05.8	I'm the government, hug the government, love.
0:08.6	The government, hug the government, love.
0:11.1	The government.
0:11.4	Welcome to the politics, guys, a place for bipartisan, rational, and civil debate on American politics and policy.
0:16.7	I'm Trey Orndworth, a political scientist at Oklahoma Christian University, And I'm joined by Justin Holmes, a professor of political science at the University of Northern Iowa.
0:26.6	Hi, Trey.
0:27.7	Well, welcome back to our ideology midweek supporter show.
0:31.9	It's great to be there.
0:33.4	Be here.
0:34.5	They are here.
0:36.1	It's all.
0:36.6	That's an interesting philosophy. That's a good, that's a good philosophic question. It's all. That's an interesting thing.
0:38.2	That's a good, that's a good philosophic question.
0:40.4	It's good to exist today.
0:42.5	I would agree.
0:43.6	I would agree.
0:44.8	So what we started the last time, Justin and I are embarking on a journey through contemporary
0:52.2	political ideologies.
0:54.0	And we started by just trying to talk about and understand what ideologies are, what they mean, how they might pattern behavior.
1:02.7	And we're not done completely with that.
	...

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