The ABC's Of Liberalism

The term “Liberal” and “Liberalism” is being bandied about in so many contexts that its actual meaning seems to becoming lost. The fact is that most people today – at least Americans are “liberal” the problem lies not in the philosophy of liberalism but in its interpretation and implementation. Liberalism is actually a philosophy that emphasizes individualism, equality, and freedom – things which I think the typical American stands for and believes in. The problem starts almost at the outset because as a “theory” liberalism describes how things ought to be rather than how they actually are. In practice the liberal wants a government that perfectly embodies the three basic points of liberal philosophy, rather than accepting the pragmatic reality of the government we have.

Liberals and non-liberals alike want government to secure the rights of individuals the problem comes in the implementation of that goal. Both want every individual to be treated equally but for some that equality is equality under the law but for others that kind equality is not enough because equality cannot be had if some are richer than others. For these people the clear responsibility of government is to redistribute the wealth so that equality among all citizens can be achieved. While some people believe in the basic right to individual ownership of property others think the government has the responsibility to secure goods for every citizen, even at the expense of others and their property rights. This leads to the progressive income tax, housing subsides, affirmative action, income tax refunds to those who pay no income tax, and more recently the seizure of private property for developers to build malls and buildings for the “good of all”.

While most Americans would say they believe in freedom, in practice they do not. In fact the typical American believes in limited freedom and the number of limitations on our freedom increases daily. In fact this may actually best illustrate how liberalism in practice has so deviated from liberalism as a philosophy. Some would think that “freedom of speech” has been expanded beyond what was intended by the founding fathers with the acceptance by the Supreme Court of pornography, profanity, and the desecration of Christian symbols. But Christian theology and symbols are banned from schools and public buildings while Islamic and other religious symbols and theology are not. Huckleberry Finn cannot be taught in schools because the word “nigger” is used. The government has banned smoking which is a direct infringement of individual rights – justified by liberals on the basis of “the common good”. Car seats and seat belts are mandatory and indeed they may be very useful but the reality is that compulsion to buy them and use them is a direct abridgement by government on individual rights. So while most Americans believe in the liberal philosophy the implementation has strayed so far afield as to border on fascism.

This idea that the government has an obligation to provide for the individual was the motivation behind Karl Marx and his communist philosophy. Even though communism has caused more harm than good and has cost millions of lives, the basic belief that government must provide for the individual lives on. It lives on with the universal healthcare bill before congress today. It lives on in the “tax the rich” ideas prevailing in congress today. It lives on as the individual right not to be offended. The government now protects the rights of minorities at the expense of the majority when the whole purpose of the American Republic was government by the majority. We have come along way from that ideal. What started as a government for the people has morphed into a people subordinate to the government whose objective is to provide first and foremost for the individual at the expense of the majority.

The Common Good and Marxism

Recently we are hearing the term “The Common Good” being bandied about by various politicians and public figures – almost always left leaning people who would describe themselves as “progressive”. However, the term “progressive” is in reality simply a code word for “socialist” or in the more extreme cases “Marxist”, but precisely what is meant by the common good? This is a term that has a long history but really has no specific definition because it is situational. Generally this is a term that describes a specific “good” that is shared and beneficial for all members of a community but just on the face of it, this is a definition that clearly does not work because not everyone would agree that a specific good was good for everyone. If a good is common between persons A and B may not be viewed as “good” to persons C and D. But in general it is agreed that water, food, and shelter are “common goods” and shared by all people.

Of course while these are indeed common goods, they are relative because the quality of food and shelter are not universally the same, indeed some people are homeless and others indigent. And at this point the Progressives enter with their agenda for the common good. In the interest of the common good the progressives have outlawed smoking, not on the basis of empirical science but on the basis of social engineering – it is bad for you and we are going to force you to stop smoking. They have outlawed free speech, on the basis that no one in society should be offended by anyone else. So we have hate speech and forbidden words but accept low class behavior, profanity, and blatant public sexuality on the basis of free speech and free expression, because to suppress these is not in the common good.

Increasingly the progressives are using the rhetoric of common good to advance their socialist agenda, hence we are being told that universal health care is in the common good. The failure of government sponsored universal healthcare everywhere it has been tried is ignored as is the cost. The corollary here is that the government needs to “tax the rich” to pay for these social programs espoused by the progressives. In the progressive world private businesses are inherently evil and should be taxed out of existence. The means of production belong to the “people” and everyone is entitled to a job regardless of their qualifications. This was the basis of communism in the USSR, Cuba, North Korea, all of Eastern Europe, and is currently underway in Venezuela. The clear and obvious failure of these progressive philosophies is simply ignored by the leftist intelligentsia on the basis that the implementation was flawed and in the right hands, it would work. Of course the question immediately rises as to “whose hands” we should entrust our government. So who falls into this camp of enlightened progressives who feel they should control the rest of us – well we find, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Barrack Hussein Obama, Sean Penn, George Clooney, Barbra Streisand, and a whole bevy of similar intellectual giants. The reality is that these people are actually trying to establish an Oligarchy where they run everything and the rest of us are reduced to servants and serfs who must work to support them while they confiscate our earnings in the name of the common good.

If we allow these progressives into power they will do everything they can to implement their agenda in the name of the common good. This will include a suppression of the constitutional right to bear arms; after all, guns kill people (the empty headedness of that statement totally escapes these intellectual giants). Smoking is already criminalized but then we can be assured that Marijuana will be legalized and the convoluted logic of that will be rationalized on the basis that most of the liberal smoke marijuana but would never smoke a cigarette. Illegal immigrants will be permitted to take advantage of all social services on the basis that they provide services for the common good. Of course universal health care would be high on their agenda because it isn’t fair that health services should be paid for or offered as charity. Of course every effort will be made to suppress capitalism via heavy taxes, onerous restrictions, environmental protection, and anything else they can dream up to keep businesses from making a profit because any profit is obscene. Without doubt they will take a leaf from Hugo Chavez and attempt to socialize the oil companies because they are making way too much money. Hillary Clinton has already stated that among her first actions as president will be to take the profits from the oil companies and invest them in other energy programs.

So when you hear the liberal media talk about progressive ideas and ideals, remember these are actually the people who view themselves as smarter than everyone else and thus are entitled to rule you, to take your money, to restrict your lives, and to govern what you eat and how you live in the name of the common good.