Mark Twain's Radical Liberalism

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Part of the difficulty of understanding Mark Twain's political outlook is due to terminology and the tendency of politics to corrupt the meaning of everything. As often as you see him called a liberal, he is called a conservative, and sometimes both in the same breath. Critics puzzle about how one person could be champion of workers, owners, and the capitalist rich, while holding views that are antigovernment on domestic matters, antislavery, and antiwar. They often conclude that his politics are incoherent.

Part of the reason for the confusion has to do with the changed meaning of liberalism as an ideology and the incapacity of modern critics to understand its 19th-century implications.

Mark Twain's Radical Liberalism - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Institute

 

[GEORGE ORWELL]

Was Mark Twain aware of censorship and what were his thoughts about it? He was light years ahead of others in much, but what about free speech?

 

[Truthmatters]

Mark Twain quotations - Conservative


The radical of one century is the conservative of the next. The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them.
- Notebook, 1898

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Well being that Twain was a classical liberal he'd be considered a libertarian today, not a conservative.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Too bad there aren't many more people like Mark Twain in America today. Not necessarily because of his views on censorship but because of his overall great sense of humor. A truly great man and a giant in American storytelling.