Vicissitudes and Victories

I'm a Liberal

Liberalism in the United States of America is a broad political and philosophical mindset, favoring individual liberty and opposing restrictions on liberty, whether they come from title, from government regulation, from the existing social class structure, or from multi-national corporations. (Schlesinger, Arthur Jr. "Liberalism in America: A Note for Europeans." The Politics of Hope, ed Donna Zajoin. Riverside Press, 1962; as cited in Wikipedia, American Liberalism)

I have a confession to make. I am a liberal. Conservative commentators in recent times have personified liberals as devils--or at the least, Godless communists. In our modern world, the word Liberalism connotes big government, corruption, and the welfare state. Yet people don't realize where the word came from and how important the idea of liberalism has been to the history of the United States. The above definition for the word shows how liberals have helped develop almost all of the political platforms of the major parties in the United States. Liberals believe in liberty--one of the inalienable rights espoused in the Declaration of Independence. Among some of the most famous liberals in American history were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Abraham Lincoln to name only a few. Anyone who fights to protect the rights of others or anyone who favors democracy is by definition an advocate of liberalism. In American politics, terms often become loaded with political meaning. Word appropriation equals power in many modern societies. As a present-day liberal thinker, I call on every American everywhere to think about politics. Think about the words that we use. Ponder on the meaning that political words convey. We are presently making history-- let us work to honor the liberal traditions of those men that helped to found this nation.

posted by Joel @ 1:40 AM