Liberalism Today

Founding Fathers Sign
Declaration of Independence

Posted on November 30, 2011

The Liberals I know are decent, caring, and smart. It is their politically liberal alignment that baffles me. Could my understanding of liberalism be skewed because of my own prejudices? I will let you be the judge of that.

The liberalism that I am familiar with wants a more equal distribution of the national wealth. Historically, Liberals have pushed for government control of as many of our institutions not already under the thumb of government. Liberals fervently believe that the people would be better off if the wealth of the nation was centrally administered. Fairness is often a word that is heard from Liberals. They look upon the inequality of wealth distribution as being unacceptable.

Both the Liberal philosophy and the philosophy of their counter-parts on the extreme right are self-defeating. Up front, and a Conservative at heart, I will tell you that I do not want to return to America's days of monopolies and robber barons. Our founding was based on equal opportunity, not equal outcome. Those who founded this nation knew that in order for this nation to prevail and remain viable, it was dependent upon the goodness of its citizens. The cornerstone of founding a nation to being self-policing relies upon the respect and trustworthiness between its citizens. At the time of our founding, it was a strong faith in God that regulated self discipline in the society. It wasn't perfect, but for the most part the “fear of God” was the gate keeper that kept many from regressing to serve their more basic selfish nature.

The founders did not create a theocracy, but the nation they founded was based upon the Judeo-Christian ethos. Religious freedom, as iterated in our founding documents, is often bandied about by many to be inclusive of all religions, but it is not. Religious freedom was meant to provide for freedom to worship any flavor of religion based on the Holy Bible that subscribed to the moral and ethical standards as defined by Judeo-Christian teachings. Of course, this is not specifically written down, but a historical look at the religious turmoil at the time of our founding clearly indicated a bias against other types of religions. Great efforts were made to convert the Indians to Christianity. The Indian religions were not an acceptable form of worship and they were referred to as savages by most Americans. Mormons, witches, and the native religions of the Negroes were all looked upon as non-starters. I cringe whenever I hear the support given for an organized religion that advocates its own civil law system over and above our constituted system. It is unthinkable that such a religion be granted a constitutionally protected status. I am not convinced that the constitution is a suicide document.

It is only my opinion, but I see liberalism as nothing more than an empty, aggressive play for political power at any cost. Liberalism would by-pass the idea of a self-policing, free society bound by a commonality of virtue and replaces it with one that scripts all human behavior from 'on high' to be enforced by an intense legal system. To this end, under the Liberal banner, no human activity is taboo or can be frowned upon for fear of losing the support of those advocates. Modern liberalism has ceased to be an anchor and voice for the voiceless. Liberalism has morphed into an unwieldy avaricious political affiliation with a disdain for American exceptionalism.

Liberalism had modest beginnings and was a necessary component for national development. There was a time in our historical past that the federal government neglected its legal and moral obligations to ensure that its citizens did not become the victims of tyranny.

Capitalists thought nothing of mistreating their workers during the later 1800's and early 1900's. Working conditions for the most part were intolerable. Child labor was rampant because at that time it took everybody in the family to make ends meet (or just feed themselves). The Capitalists during those days made a mockery of fairness and goodness. The abuse suffered by ordinary Americans in the factories and sweatshops during this period was appalling.

Working conditions were so poor that the Government finally passed several labor laws to protect the workers. Workers unions sprang up to help fill the gap and curb the ravaging of the defenseless poor.

What began as a humane effort to give a greater say over the economic destiny of the poor has evolved into the mess that we have now. Gone are the robber barons, and in their place has stepped the career politician. Our government has grown exponentially since those first efforts to curb the greed of the capitalists. The growth of government is directly responsible for our loss of jobs, degradation of our currency, the establishment of a dependent class, and political correctness.

A strong central government can never be acceptable to an independent, freedom loving people. A strong central government is rejected after a period of time because it is so oppressive to freedom. Liberalism and its cousins Socialism and Communism are failed ideas. The nature of liberalism is corruptive. An elitist Liberal Oligarchy is on par with a government that turns a blind eye to the mistreatment of its citizens.

Creativity and progress depends upon competition. Competition is where progress and creativity germinate. Ambition is what drives individuals to want to build a better mouse-trap.

Believe me when I tell you that being dependent upon a behemoth like the Federal Government is not freedom. Under the Liberal Banner, everybody (except the ruling elite) is treated equally, and creativity gets lost in the mix. People are also unhappy because they yearn for the freedom to succeed or fail. Yes, failure is an important ingredient to success. It is the threat of failure that motivates the job creators to keep at it and not quit. Quitting and being defeated is a hallmark of failure. As a rule, most ambitious creators work very hard to not become a failure. It is like finally riding your bicycle without the training wheels for the first time. Do you remember how proud you were when you finally mastered riding? Succeeding is analogous to finally removing those training wheels.

Success should not violate the society norms and laws. Violators should be shamed and exposed, and in some cases, prosecuted and imprisoned for their transgressions. Because such violators are common today, the importance a strong ethical society should be evident to all.

So other than the Utopian idea of equality of outcome, I am puzzled by the passion displayed by Liberals. Caring about others has to be more than the superficial trappings of an unearned social standing. How far down the failed and dead end street do they want to take us? The abyss looms ahead as we barrel headlong into irrelevancy under the leftist banner.

Robert welcomes your comment to this or any other of my commentaries.

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