Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Politics and Other Controversies
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 04-15-2019, 10:47 AM
 
Location: moved
13,591 posts, read 9,627,176 times
Reputation: 23363

Advertisements

One recurring theme on this forum is the bashing of “liberals”. Persons who genuinely do lean liberal respond by guising their sentiments under different labels, such as “progressive”. Meanwhile, those of a Libertarian bent aim to take back the definition of “liberal” to mean some blend of Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith, whereas the modern, “corrupted” definition of liberalism goes back to Woodrow Wilson and maybe Herbert Croly.

I’d like to propose an alternative definition of “liberal”, hopefully prompting some intense – but not vitriolic – discussion.

First, to be a conservative, in my reckoning, means to prefer kin-group, tribe and local community, to the world at large. Said world, while not necessarily bad or otherwise deficient, simply isn’t one’s own, and therefore deserves less favor and less attention. To be a liberal, then, means to eschew and diminish distinction between one’s own neighborhood and that of the rest of the city; one’s own city, and the rest of the state; one’s own state, and the rest of the country; one’s own country, and the rest of the continent; one’s own continent, and the entire earth.

Liberalism, in this view, means that individuals recognize assault on their freedoms from constraints near and far, be they the local homeowner’s association or climate-treaties negotiated at the United Nations. There really is no distinction. That persons happen to live physically close to one, does not make them friendly, like-minded, helpful or inherently good. That persons live far away, does not make them weird, incomprehensible, sinister or deluded. That a leader is elected nation-wide, nowise implies that said leader is more accountable or more accessible, than a leader elected at the local village community-house.

Any law that is oppressive or burdensome is a bad law, be it passed by the local town-council, or imposed by faceless bureaucrats in DC or Brussels. Likewise, any serious crisis – diseases, decline of productivity growth rate, healthcare costs and the costs of medical research, the environment, whatever – requires a global response, and not merely a national one… certainly not just a local one.

Paramount is free-trade and free-flow of ideas, goods, services and persons. Essentially, in my definition, liberalism = globalism, save that I’m skeptical of general approaches to raise taxes and impose regulations, as comprehensive solution. That is, I am wary of responses to crises that restrict freedom, but I’m no less wary – and actually, even more so – of local responses, than of expansive and philosophically sweeping ones, given in speeches at the United Nations.

Finally, in this definition of liberalism, it is paramount that people be maximally be left alone. This includes freedom to travel or to work wherever people please, provided that they have the means of doing so, without recourse to public funds.

Well then… what do we say of this “new” definition of liberalism?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Politics and Other Controversies
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top