Liberalism has long been conflated with the left in American politics. Ever since the civil rights era, the Democratic Party, traditionally home to southern white racists, has been the home of most left of center politicians. Before the sixties, the Republican Party was the party of civil rights. Both parties had social liberals and social conservatives in their ranks until the landscape shifted in the tumultuous decade the baby boomers won't allow us to forget. Over the next few decades the political migration of liberals and minorities to the Democrats and conservatives and southern whites to the Republicans settled into a status quo. The conflation of Democrat with left wing and Republican with right wing has made for a confused glossary of political terms.
Ideological orthodoxy is enforced along the lines of 'left vs right' and we no longer expect liberals to uphold liberal principles and conservatives to uphold conservative principles. In fact many liberals prefer the term 'progressive' nowadays, even though it is increasingly clear that these terms are not synonymous. Tribal identity politics has become the dominant force in much of western society, and the classic dichotomy of liberal vs reactionary has been shredded. So let's talk about liberalism and determine if that is what you are, shall we?
Liberals believe in the principles of individual liberty, gender equality, freedom of expression, secular government, and a right to life, liberty, and due process under the law. It can be said that "the rule of law" or the concept of "freedom under law" which was perhaps the most crucial phrase in the proto-enlightenment document: Magna Carta. From there we can trace the advances of civilization and culture to the radical liberals who fought for freedom of expression, equal and civil rights, secular values, and the establishment of democracy in place of monarchy and totalitarian rule. To be conservative was to be reactionary and support the status quo whether it was serfdom or somewhat more advanced. To be liberal was to be radical and change the status quo to remove power from the few and expand individual liberty.
Liberals tend to value science, education, and creative expression. They take a laissez faire or 'live and let live' attitude toward other peoples and cultures, a notion which, in theory, makes very good sense. While monarchs, tyrants, theocratic despots and later communists and fascists promised utopia, paradise, perfection and purity, radicals, enlightenment thinkers and Magna Carta liberals were fighting for and demanding liberty and functionality.
The status quo is always going to be imperfect for somebody because there is no perfect. By the time the enlightenment liberal revolution reached critical mass with the American and French revolutions, liberalism had a manifesto in Thomas Paine's Rights of Man, a declaration of principles in the Declaration of Independence, and an updated Magna Carta in the American Bill of Rights. Later in the twentieth century, representatives from nations who had benefited most from these liberal concepts drafted a document to be upheld as the liberal's grandest aspirational document: the universal declaration of human rights.
The liberal's greatest achievements include the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, the defeat of fascism in Europe, and more recently, the civil rights and women’s equal rights movements. Liberals believe that rights are universal and inalienable. They believe in gender equality, and standing up for women, homosexuals, minorities, and the physically or mentally challenged. If you actively support or apologize for people or ideologies that reject these rights, you are not a liberal. If you apply different standards to different people and societies for any reason, you are probably not a liberal.
Liberals believe that all people are entitled to dignity, fairness, and equal treatment under the law. If you believe people with different skin color, beliefs, or nationalities should be treated differently, infantilized, or held to lower moral standards, you are not a liberal. Principles are more important to liberals than identity. We cannot be equal if we are not equally free and accountable.
Liberals believe in secular democratic representative government, regardless of their own personal philosophical or religious beliefs. Yet many support or ignore those who actively and unapologetically espouse tyranny, theocracy, or even genocide. If you fail to see the hypocrisy in such behavior, you are not a liberal.
Liberals do not support aggression, violence, murder or ethnic cleansing. If you sympathize with those who espouse violence and terror as legitimate political weapons, particularly against innocents and children, you are not a liberal.
Liberals believe in freedom of speech and expression. Yet many who call themselves liberals support silencing those with differing opinions and beliefs simply because they disagree with them or are not partial to their nationality, ethnic background or religion. They very often denounce and smear their interlocutors as racists and bigots, without feeling any need to explain or justify such accusations, much less concern themselves with their consequences. These are not liberal, serious or ethical people.
Liberals believe in science, reason, art, music and education. If you support or enable those who wish to proscribe others from such pursuits or pleasures, you are not a liberal.
Liberals believe in the rule of law and that all people are innocent until proven guilty. If you support or sympathize with those who administer medieval justice, torture, or execute people in the public square without a fair trial, you are not a liberal.
Liberals come from a tradition of enlightenment principles which, above all, value the importance of the individual and his or her quest for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If you believe more in the rights of groups than individuals, or that identity politics and political correctness are more valuable to the human experience than individual rights, you are not a liberal.
Granted, liberalism, by definition, will forever be an imperfect paradox, nebulous and in constant flux, expanding, contracting, and even collapsing in on itself. Lest we forget, from liberal we also get the word libertine, or one who lacks a sense of moral restraint. But for all its blemishes and imperfections, when it comes to fulfilling equality, human rights, and the aspirations of the common people, it’s the only game in town.
(Written by Rufus Chicolini and Keith Carbone, two liberals)
