Liberals (big 'L') believe all the same things conservatives believe - worldview-wise. The problem, as they see it, is that there are small tweaks that need to be made here 'n' there to _perfect_ the system. They share with conservatives a belief in Enlightenment liberalism with its attendant notions of the individual and her relationship to society (individualism), about freedom (autonomy), knowledge (rationality and empiricism), justice (equality of opportunity), etc.
Their view of how to fix whatever ails a system that does not instantiate these ideals is technocratic and positivist - which is why you get the think tankery.
also some here: <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2009/2009-March/003758.html>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2009/2009-March/003758.html
My personally fave discussion (ymmv) of these issues are found in two books, Brian Fay's _Social Theory and Political Practice_ (he connects of a "conservative" version of liberalism with their vision of theory and science and as they translate into political practice - and social policy. he does the same with a Welfare Liberal version of liberalism with its attendant theory, science, practice, and social policy. both of which are contrast with critical theory.
The other is a discussion of the transition from enlightenment liberalism to Welfare Liberalism in a chapter of Kenneth Strike's _Educational Policy and the Just Society_.
At 02:18 AM 5/3/2010, SA wrote:
>Bhaskar, who serves on The Activist editorial committee, has asked me to
>bring this noteworthy article to the attention of LBO-Talk....
>
>----
>
>http://theactivist.org/blog/the-ideology-problem
>
>In this case, the exercise was especially intriguing because it touches on
>a theme I've been thinking a lot about recently: What is it that liberals
>believe?
http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)