Liberal Ideals
Mar. 13th, 2005 06:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumThere's a lot of talk about what the Liberal, and Conservative sides of the american public believe.
Me, I used to be centrist. These days that's seen as liberal. So be it.
So what do I believe? More to the point how do I explain it to the rest of the world.
I believe liberty is local. That one's freedom isn't abstract, it's concrete. Freedom to not be searched at whim, to say what I want; when I want and to whom I want. Freedom to worship, or not, as I see fit. I'd go on, but my restating the Bill of Rights, as I see it ought to be applied would get tiresome.
So, what do I want from Gov't? That's a little harder, but not much. I want government to see to it that those rights are secured. I also want it to secure a couple of things not in the Constitution, "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." It's worth noting the writers of the Declaration of Independence didn't say property, which would have been far more in keeping with the political philosophy of the day. No, they were liberal to the point of radical in that regard.
Liberalism is at the heart of the American philosophy. It was the conservative who wanted to keep slavery legal. It was the conservative who resisted women getting the vote. It was the conservative who opposed a minimum wage, and Social Security (and they still do). It was, and still is, the conservative who wants a regressive tax structure, where the rich get their social services from the sweat of the poor.
Sure, they talk a good line, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the servings the middle class, and the poor, have been getting from the folks on the right, is some pretty thin stuff (look at the loopholes in the bankruptcy law which just cleared the senate... if you can afford to have your assets put into a trust, you can keep them, and even avoid having them counted as part of your net worth when you file Ch. 7 and get your debts erased. Ken Lay isn't going to suffer, but the employees are. Then ponder that there is no cap on the interest credit card companies can charge, they defeated an effort to make it 30 percent).
Digby, over at Hullaballoo says it better than I can.
The case for responsive government that provides services to the people and keeps the market functioning in a healthy way springs from the liberal belief in justice, equality and liberty. The bill of rights is the founding document of American liberalism.
We believe that while property rights are fundamental to American law, liberty means more than property rights only. There is a reason that Thomas Jefferson wrote "life liberty and the pursuit of happiness" instead of the more familiar (at the time) "life liberty and property" in the declaration. Even then, America was about more than this cramped view that freedom is nothing more than freedom from taxes. Freedom is also the inherant right of each individual to dominion over his or her identity, body and mind.
We believe in free speech and freedom of religion with almost no exceptions because no individual can be trusted to make such distinctions without prejudice. We believe in the right to a fair trial and we believe that those who represent the government must be held to a very high standard due to the natural temptations the government's awesome judicial and police power can present. We cannot have a free society where government does not adhere to the rule of law.
We have fought for universal suffrage, labor laws, civil rights and the right to privacy among many other things because we believe in fairness, equality and social justice. We believe those principles require a society such as ours to ensure that all people can live a decent and dignified life. We think that democratic government, being directly accountable to the people, is the best institution through which those pinciples can be successfully translated into action. We are always on the side of progress, looking forward, stepping into the future.
The founding fathers were liberals. Our tradition is as American as apple pie.
Me, I used to be centrist. These days that's seen as liberal. So be it.
So what do I believe? More to the point how do I explain it to the rest of the world.
I believe liberty is local. That one's freedom isn't abstract, it's concrete. Freedom to not be searched at whim, to say what I want; when I want and to whom I want. Freedom to worship, or not, as I see fit. I'd go on, but my restating the Bill of Rights, as I see it ought to be applied would get tiresome.
So, what do I want from Gov't? That's a little harder, but not much. I want government to see to it that those rights are secured. I also want it to secure a couple of things not in the Constitution, "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." It's worth noting the writers of the Declaration of Independence didn't say property, which would have been far more in keeping with the political philosophy of the day. No, they were liberal to the point of radical in that regard.
Liberalism is at the heart of the American philosophy. It was the conservative who wanted to keep slavery legal. It was the conservative who resisted women getting the vote. It was the conservative who opposed a minimum wage, and Social Security (and they still do). It was, and still is, the conservative who wants a regressive tax structure, where the rich get their social services from the sweat of the poor.
Sure, they talk a good line, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the servings the middle class, and the poor, have been getting from the folks on the right, is some pretty thin stuff (look at the loopholes in the bankruptcy law which just cleared the senate... if you can afford to have your assets put into a trust, you can keep them, and even avoid having them counted as part of your net worth when you file Ch. 7 and get your debts erased. Ken Lay isn't going to suffer, but the employees are. Then ponder that there is no cap on the interest credit card companies can charge, they defeated an effort to make it 30 percent).
Digby, over at Hullaballoo says it better than I can.
The case for responsive government that provides services to the people and keeps the market functioning in a healthy way springs from the liberal belief in justice, equality and liberty. The bill of rights is the founding document of American liberalism.
We believe that while property rights are fundamental to American law, liberty means more than property rights only. There is a reason that Thomas Jefferson wrote "life liberty and the pursuit of happiness" instead of the more familiar (at the time) "life liberty and property" in the declaration. Even then, America was about more than this cramped view that freedom is nothing more than freedom from taxes. Freedom is also the inherant right of each individual to dominion over his or her identity, body and mind.
We believe in free speech and freedom of religion with almost no exceptions because no individual can be trusted to make such distinctions without prejudice. We believe in the right to a fair trial and we believe that those who represent the government must be held to a very high standard due to the natural temptations the government's awesome judicial and police power can present. We cannot have a free society where government does not adhere to the rule of law.
We have fought for universal suffrage, labor laws, civil rights and the right to privacy among many other things because we believe in fairness, equality and social justice. We believe those principles require a society such as ours to ensure that all people can live a decent and dignified life. We think that democratic government, being directly accountable to the people, is the best institution through which those pinciples can be successfully translated into action. We are always on the side of progress, looking forward, stepping into the future.
The founding fathers were liberals. Our tradition is as American as apple pie.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-03-21 08:19 am (UTC)I linked to this, paired with a couple of items from another person on my reading list. http://www.livejournal.com/users/crazysoph/248149.html
Crazy(in her flight from reality)Soph