Defining Politics: What is Liberalism
Ok so this is the big one, because Liberalism as an ideology has kinda...been the largest political force in Western Europe since at least 1776 and we really can just call 200 plus years battles over what exactly Liberalism means. It is not the oldest ideology here, but it is the oldest which was explicitly founded (we will get to Conservatism and Burke later) and so it goes through a LOT of permutations. I am classifying Liberalism and Neoliberalism as separate ideologies here, much to the annoyance of some Marxist readers i’m sure. Also Liberalism is not actually the same thing as “The Enlightenment” but they do overlap.
So important thing to understand about Liberalism, it emerged as an ideology in direct opposition to Monarchy, and so its political ideas are a rejection of Monarchist notions which I will cover later, but just remember all of this liberal rhetoric is being designed as a rejection of the aristocracy, priests, and kings. And there is a LOT of variance Liberals believe that their values will eventually lead to the improvement of all peoples life in the long term, but a rejection of Utopian in the short term. Steady progress is the name of the game to Liberalism
Another note is that I am using liberal mostly in the European sense of the term, in the US liberal just means “left of conservative” but I think that is really telling about how Conservatism is not actually that interest in the Free Market, more on that later.
OK so what makes a Liberal a Liberal? Here are the basic tenants. Remember you can belief these and also beliefs the ideologies of some other world views, like say Socialism or Social Democracy.
See how many apply to you
1) Belief that Capitalism/Free Market (which aren’t quite the same thing but what ever) is to some extend good. This varies from LIberal to Liberal in how much they like Capitalism, but on a basic level, Liberals think that capitalism can ultimately be a good force for good as long as it is managed properly, though how much management that is can vary from an FDR style strict regulation to a more Early America “just the basics”> In contrast to Neoliberalism though, Liberals do believe the market needs to be steered to some extent, but only when “necessary” though that term can mean a lot depending on the Liberal in question
(fun fact, Adam Smith is a lot more pro wellfare than his stans would have you believe)
2) Belief in Democracy. Liberalism basically invented modern democracy and they are very proud of it, participatory government. Again this emerged as a rejection of monarchy, though Liberals aren’t always the best of insuring everybody gets included in said democracy.
Furthermore, Liberals believe that this democracy should be based on the notion of separation of powers, that no single branch of goverment should have absolute control, and tend to design systems with built in checks and balances.
3) Belief in private property. Liberals take this really seriously and property rights are often valued over like...human beings.
(Pictured, my biggest issue with liberalism)
4) Big believers in Civil Liberties, aka Freedom From , like Freedom of Religion, Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Speech, right to a fair trial, legal equality before the law, habeas corpus, protection from search and seizure basically rights that prevent the goverment from infringing on your personal rights. This is in contrast to Social Rights, aka Freedom Too, like right to food, housing, education, etc that Socialists are such great advocates off. Some liberals believe in both, but to be a liberal you only have to believe in Civil Liberates.
5) A secular World View. Liberalism is fairly anti religion and likes to imagine its values detached from spiritual or religious justifications, and tends to promote separation between church and state. Its hard to imagine this now, but in the 19th century liberals were seen as the most radical anti clerical advocates in the world.
6) Love of Enlightenment ideals, specifically Empiricism, Science, and Rationalism. Liberals are really into the notion of rational self interest and get really upset when that doesn’t pan out. They again are not interested in the spiritual.
7) Belief in a Private and Public Sphere, the former being the market and the latter being goverment, ideally working in tandem and balancing each other.
8) Hyper Individualism: LIberals are really into this one, they are far more into the notions of an individuals choices and actions than that of larger society and imagine society made up of individuals making their own choices.
9) Internationalism/Globalism: Liberalism doesn’t feel the need to constrain itself by borders and historically tended to look down on the Nation State as a crude necessity rather than a goal to be reached. Pluralism is a defining element of liberalism
10) Belief in legal equality before the law. One of the main reasons why Liberalism came into existence was a rejection of notions like noble privileges and different legal systems for different types of people. While liberals are often ok with inequality based on wealth, opportunity, or talent, but they don’t like explicit legal inequality based on birth
11) Rule of law. Liberals are really into the notion of the legal system being designed to have the final say over all other concerns, and get really upset when legal systems don’t work as intended
12) Values freedom of information, knowledge, and open to new ideas from every corner, which can sometimes leave them rather blindsided when other ideologies don’t want to play by the rules.
It is also important to remember that since its inception, Liberalism has a bad habit of not including everybody in their body of rights, from the start they have always made exceptions, such as slaves, colonized peoples, the poor, foreigners ect. Many modern day Liberals would argue that this was people in the past not living up to the standards of Liberalism and that we need to actually fulfill the lofty goals set out by liberal thinkers, while others would argue that this hypocrisy is inherent in the system.
So finally, where does that put me? Well I basically am a set “yes” for all of these values, though I am only a half way supporter of private property, but I basically agree with all of the tenants of liberalism.
(actually this is a communist painting rather than a socialist one, its just a really cool painting)
