Liberalism.

Liberalism, as it relates to American politics, has transformed drastically since it was first applied to the government of the United States by the Founding Fathers in the late eighteenth century. Drawing mainly from the ideas of Enlightenment philosopher John Locke, these men defined liberalism as freedom from government tyranny and the right of all people to hold individual liberties. But after a lengthy development period that encompassed the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century, liberalism transitioned from a conservative, small-government ideology to a dynamic Democratic platform of government-sponsored social programs and progressivism, exhibited in the policies of such leaders as President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the twenty-first century, this kind of liberalism forms the core of Democratic political thought.