ABSTRACT
Marxism denotes both the philosophical or theoretical views of Karl Marx and his followers and the political doctrines applied by Communist parties and governments claiming to base their practices on Marxian ideology. A common rhetorical tactic of political rightists, however, has been to try to discredit theoretical Marxist scholars and their ideas through red-baiting guilt by association with Communist dictatorships. Political forces that are considered liberal in the United States, for example, usually stay well within the limits of capitalist ideology, and thus are considerably to the right of the labor, social-democratic, and Communist parties with large constituencies in most other democratic countries today. Rather than speaking of "the liberal New York Times," one should explain and document the sense and degree of liberalism referred to. Thus, while libertarianism is one form of conservatism, libertarians criticize mainstream conservatives for inconsistency when they support government subsidies or bailouts for business or protectionist policies supposedly in the national interest.
