Defining Liberalism

In several other posts and comments you may remember me using a phrase "modern liberals" or "American liberals". If I'm in a hurry, I'll just say liberals, but I think I will officially stop that practice. Jacob Sullum's Indivisible freedom is the reason for this sea change. I realized a while back that the liberalism taught in school and that I read about in the biographies of our Founding Fathers is not the same liberalism practiced by self-described liberals in America today. Private property, self-determination and free markets are very liberal ideas when looking through the lens of history, but "modern liberals" wish to impose limits on private property, "help" those less fortunate with programs that keep them poor and control every aspect of the market.

A true liberal, and I like to think myself as one, isn't bothered by what other people do in the privacy of their homes. Just don't bother anyone else while you're doing it.

A true liberal doesn't want to take a huge portion of someone's livelihood and give it away. You should allow people to help each other. A government bureaucracy can never and will never work as efficiently and effectively as people deciding to do something for themselves. Make it easier for me to hire someone; don't straddle me with dozens of forms and 3 different bureaucracies. Make life better for my new employee by getting rid of several thousand pages of tax law and the taking 40% or more of their income.

A true liberal wants people to buy and sell to each other with minimal interference. Commerce laws are the direct result of Congress members trying to gain influence from corporations…who are trying to limit competitors via a large government program/law/bureaucracy. Or they're from a special interest group with other agendas. Ditch as much of it as possible while still providing protections to consumers. How about something simple like, "If your product injures or kills someone during normal use and accepted standards, then you will bleed cash and may go out of business." Running someone over with your car is not an accepted standard and the driver would be liable, no matter how well they drove over a pedestrian.

A true liberal believes in the rule of law. The most frustrating thing about many judges today is their willingness to use their positions to bypass law and create their own. There are many laws on the books that shouldn't be there. Let's get rid of them. At the same time, however, do not ignore or actively promote the violation of laws that you don't agree with. It's a fine line to walk.

Self determination is a very liberal concept. Ancient Athens tried it for a while. They won some war, but were corrupted out of existence. A lot can be learned from studying history. There isn't much happening now that hasn't happened somewhere, sometime in the past. There were even Athenians that didn't want to fight the Persians encroaching on Greek lands.

It's interesting that modern conservative are fighting for free markets, self determination and the rule of law, while modern liberals riot and protest for market controls, dictators, and violation of existing laws.