Conservative? Liberal? Progressive? In today’s language…the lines blur.
Is the opposite of a conservative really a liberal?
I’ve been reading a lot of history lately, and it makes me think about the way the lines have blurred in the “boxes” we must place people. For example, a politician may be labeled as a “Conservative Republican” or a “Liberal Democrat”. But what do these terms really mean? Most people consider “Conservative” to be synonymous with “the Right” and “Liberal” to be synonymous with “the Left”. The two are polar opposites.
My argument isn’t really about the nature of the term Conservative. For the most part, this label is being rightly used. My issue is more with the bastardization and hijacking of the term “liberal”.
What on earth do I mean? Well, let’s take a look at liberalism in its historic context, the liberalism that was a product of the Enlightenment.
In a historic sense, liberalism (or “classical liberalism”) is exactly what it sounds like, a belief in the importance of individual liberty. It is this premise upon which our founding fathers wrote, “all men are created equal” and have “inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. From liberalism came many of the individual rights that we enjoy, rights guaranteed under the constitution such as freedom of religion, association, the press, etc. In fact, the United States was the first, true liberal society and government! It is about individual freedom, not government intervention!
If you ask the following questions to someone labeled as a conservative, what do you think the response would be?
1. Do you believe in individual liberty and freedom?
2. Do you believe that government draws it legitimacy through the consent of the governed?
3. Should the government play a limited role in the life of each citizen?
4. Do you respond positively to the term “laissez-faire”?
The response would be a resounding YES on every count! Yet all of these are LIBERAL ideas?
Yet only a small fraction of Americans define themselves as liberal. How can this be when our entire society and government are based on liberal premises?
I’m not sure when the hijacking took place, but today, liberalism and progressivism are synonymous. Yet they are absolutely not! Perhaps it is because true progressives find the term, well, uncomfortable. They prefer instead to hide behind a few tenets of liberalism which happen to coincide with their own, giving them easier acceptance?
In fact, it is progressivism which is the opposite of conservatism. Yet we never hear talk of progressivism? Why is this, because most Americans would actually be opposed to it?
I’ve been reading a lot of history lately, and it makes me think about the way the lines have blurred in the “boxes” we must place people. For example, a politician may be labeled as a “Conservative Republican” or a “Liberal Democrat”. But what do these terms really mean? Most people consider “Conservative” to be synonymous with “the Right” and “Liberal” to be synonymous with “the Left”. The two are polar opposites.
My argument isn’t really about the nature of the term Conservative. For the most part, this label is being rightly used. My issue is more with the bastardization and hijacking of the term “liberal”.
What on earth do I mean? Well, let’s take a look at liberalism in its historic context, the liberalism that was a product of the Enlightenment.
In a historic sense, liberalism (or “classical liberalism”) is exactly what it sounds like, a belief in the importance of individual liberty. It is this premise upon which our founding fathers wrote, “all men are created equal” and have “inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. From liberalism came many of the individual rights that we enjoy, rights guaranteed under the constitution such as freedom of religion, association, the press, etc. In fact, the United States was the first, true liberal society and government! It is about individual freedom, not government intervention!
If you ask the following questions to someone labeled as a conservative, what do you think the response would be?
1. Do you believe in individual liberty and freedom?
2. Do you believe that government draws it legitimacy through the consent of the governed?
3. Should the government play a limited role in the life of each citizen?
4. Do you respond positively to the term “laissez-faire”?
The response would be a resounding YES on every count! Yet all of these are LIBERAL ideas?
Yet only a small fraction of Americans define themselves as liberal. How can this be when our entire society and government are based on liberal premises?
I’m not sure when the hijacking took place, but today, liberalism and progressivism are synonymous. Yet they are absolutely not! Perhaps it is because true progressives find the term, well, uncomfortable. They prefer instead to hide behind a few tenets of liberalism which happen to coincide with their own, giving them easier acceptance?
In fact, it is progressivism which is the opposite of conservatism. Yet we never hear talk of progressivism? Why is this, because most Americans would actually be opposed to it?
posted by Cogito at 9:40 AM
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