If You Are an American, You're Probably a Liberal
I am no longer a Democrat, but I think I am still a liberal. You might be one, too. I believe in people and in their ability for self government and I think that’s what constitutes a liberal, at least in the classic tradition.
And I wonder whether most of us in the United States wouldn’t fit that definition. Nowadays people waving American flags try to paint me as a “libtard” and Republicans want to own me, but why, when our beliefs are so similar and emanate from the same underlying philosophy, do we suddenly seem so disconnected from each other? I’ve been trying to take all this hysteria apart to see what it comes from.
Liberalism, a political and economic philosophy, has its roots in the Enlightenment era. It emphasizes individual freedoms, democracy, and market economies.
It is an ideology that values freedom, equality, democracy, and human rights.
So far, I think all Americans can follow along.
As an ideology, liberalism became a distinct movement during the Age of Enlightenment, when Western philosophers and economists began to promote representative democracy, rule of law, and equality under the law. Liberals also sought to replace traditional conservatism-- a state religion, absolute monarchy, and hereditary privilege with free trade, marketization, and an end to royal monopolies and mercantilist policies.
Here’s where we part company. Classical conservatism is a political and social philosophy that emphasizes the importance of natural law, tradition, and moral order. Traditionalist conservatives believe that society should adhere to natural laws, and that social order is more important than individualism. Tradition.
In reality, most of what the founders of liberalism believed are what conservatives now believe, give or take tradition. Today’s conservatives do not believe the state is more important than the individual -- that’s the position of the Communist Chinese.
See where I am going with this? I’ve had to think about this really hard to figure out how to know how I personally believe. If you haven’t performed this exercise on your own values lately, it might be fun to try it and see where you end up.
I minored in political science in college, so somewhere buried in my memory are the names of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, two Enlightenment philosophers who believed people could self-govern, and that there was no “divine right of kings.”
This is from Locke’s Two Treatises on Government”: “where there is no law, there is no freedom.” That phrase, in a nutshell, encapsulates the essence of the relationship between law and freedom in society. It underlines the fundamental importance of a well-defined legal system in safeguarding individual liberties.
I see this concern for individual liberties illustrated in Arizona every day, especially in rural communities which are often populated by people who want the government to get out of their lives and their pockets.
Is this liberal or conservative???
John Locke and Adam Smith were classical liberals, associated with free markets and faith in the individual. The political philosophy of that time emphasized individual liberty, limited government, and free markets. America was born out of classical liberalism.
So what should we call the current iteration of liberalism, which evolved out of the growth of cities in the 19th and 20th centuries? Often associated with a more progressive stance, the urban form of liberalism advocated for social justice, welfare programs, and government intervention to address social inequalities.
In many ways, progressivism doesn’t read as liberalism, because of its reliance on things like social justice and increased government intervention.This form of liberalism supports policies that promote anti-discrimination laws, protections for minority groups, and equal opportunity.
Also, in a broader, non-political sense, "liberal" can refer to someone who is open-minded, willing to accept new ideas, and respectful of others' opinions and lifestyles.
So where does that put you? I have had this conversation many times lately as I resume contact with old friends I haven’t seen since Covid. We have carefully (and I mean that literally, because we care for each other and now we are having the difficult conversations) trod into the area of current politics. Fortunately, we have all lived to fight another day.
These old friends are stuck with me, the avowed social justice warrior in a state full of limited government Republicans, but they don’t seem too unhappy. They say things like, “yeah, but you’re the kind of liberal I like.”
Which means we all live under the same Enlightenment principles that founded the country, and given a choice, very few of us would like to return to either a fascist ruler or a communist ruler.
We should probably remember that when we head to the ballot box to vote for one of the two old men nobody likes.