Classical Liberalism

Today's Democrats are certainly not liberal - not in the classical, traditional sense. Today's Democrats are leftists and socialists and statists. They do not believe in the primacy of the individual. They do not believe in limited government. And they do not believe in permitting opposing speech. It's a good idea to take a look at how far the leftist Democrats have moved from true liberalism. As noted by Wikipedia, "Liberalism as a specifically named ideology begins in the late 18th century as a movement towards self-government and away from aristocracy."

One of the leading voices then on this idea of liberalism was John Stuart Mill, with his famous treatise "On Liberty." Mill discussed three objections to government interference in the lives of the people. "The first is, when the thing to be done is likely to be better done by individuals than by the government." But government under Democrats, especially since the 1960s, has taken on ever-increasing responsibilities. It is the Republicans who have discussed bringing us back to true liberal ideals, when they discuss privatization of functions that have been taken over by the government.

Mill: "The second objection is more nearly allied to our subject. In many cases, though individuals may not do the particular thing so well, on the average, as the officers of government, it is nevertheless desirable that it should be done by them, rather than by the government, as a means to their own mental education - a mode of strengthening their active faculties, exercising their judgment, and giving them a familiar knowledge of the subjects with which they are thus left to deal."

Mill is telling us that there is a benefit to the individual when they do things for themselves, rather than having government bureaucracy do things for them. As Mill notes, it is a means of self-education. But doing things for oneself, as opposed to relying on government, also motivates people to take care of themselves. And, for my friends on the left who are concerned with the idea of "self-esteem," doing and accomplishing things bolsters one's self-esteem in a way that government doing things for you can not.

Mill: "The third, and most cogent reason for restricting the interference of government, is the great evil of adding unnecessarily to its power." Our Constitution created a limited government, with enumerated powers. As the Tenth Amendment (too often ignored by our political leaders and the Courts) says: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Classical liberals understood the dangers in growing too big a government. After all, revolutions were fought over excessive government power. Today's Democrats can conceive of no legitimate limits on government power.

Another very important difference between today's Democrats and Classical Liberals is in the area of speech. Mill: "If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind." Yet, the Democratic left today has no interest in allowing opposing speech. In case anyone actually needs any examples, think of all the times conservative groups on college campuses have invited conservative speakers, only to have the college administrators disinvite those speakers after protests from leftist students. Think of all the occasions when leftist students shout down speakers with whom they disagree. Recall that happened to the Israeli ambassador to the US at UC Irvine.

Perhaps the most distasteful example of the left's intolerance of opposing speech came about at the very beginning of Obama's first term. Recall that he, and the top people in his Administration, went on various talk shows saying that Fox was not a legitimate news organization, and should be ignored by the other news outlets. Then, we had various Democratic mayors across the country seeking to bar Chick-fil-A from operating in their cities because the owner dared to express his personal opinion that he believed in the traditional definition of marriage. Today, we have various newspapers refusing to print opinion pieces that rebut global warming theorists. And, in my 5/19/16 post, we had a Columbia Law School professor telling us how certain viewpoints are "legitimately disfavored."

Mill: "There are many who consider as an injury to themselves any conduct which they have a distaste for, and resent it as an outrage to their feelings...but there is no parity between the feeling of a person for his own opinions and the feeling of another who is offended at his holding it..." If Mill were alive today, and saw that college students needed "safe spaces" anytime a conservative speaker was on their campus, he would smile a knowing smile and think to himself "I predicted this over 150 years ago." You see, Classical Liberals loved the debate, they did not shy away from it.

But, today's Democrats can be repeatedly heard accusing Republicans of various evil motivations. Whether it is something like "Republicans healthcare plan is you die," or the name calling of Republicans as "haters," "bigots," and "women-haters," Democrats prefer demagoguery to actual debate. It is the rare instance in which I am able to get a Democrat to actually engage in a debate with me. On the other hand, Democrats have no problem in telling me I am wrong and then walking away, with some simply telling me that they hate Republicans. And, of course, there is no end to their mockery.

So, please do not tell me Democrats are "liberal." They are far from it. They believe in unlimited government power, forgetting that we fought a revolution over that very issue. They believe in suppressing opposing speech. And, perhaps worst of all, they do not even realize how tyrannical their views are. If you are a Classical Liberal today, you are a Republican, and most likely a conservative. So, I will proudly wear the label "Classical Liberal."