red states rule
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The inherent failure of Liberalism
Notes on the right
by V. Detlef von Eck, Pol.D.
02/06/2001
Definitions of liberalism are elusive. Different liberals propose profoundly different conceptions of the liberal state. There are, however, basic values and basic assumptions that unite most reasonable liberals.
According to most liberals, the liberal state should foster and guarantee at least the basic values of plurality, freedom, rights, equality, and distributive justice. Liberals emphasize these values because they permit the individuals of the liberal state to live and act autonomously. One can almost see John Deweys notion of the individual as an independent value and thinking center lurking behind the notion of liberal autonomy.
The basic values yield the following basic assumptions that unite most reasonable liberals. Thinking and living patterns of individuals must reflect a plurality of reasonable conceptions of the good life in the liberal state. The liberal state must guarantee the freedom and equality of its citizens. Equally important, the liberal state must create and maintain a just distribution of goods citizens need to pursue and sustain the various conceptions of the good life. Of course, equality in distribution demands that the liberal state maintain the right of each citizen to these goods. Furthermore, citizens of the liberal state can and should decide for themselves the conceptions of the good life and they can and should act autonomously within the private sphere of those rights.
Liberals may differ in their interpretations and emphasis of the basic values and basic assumptions. More importantly, they may differ about how the liberal state and its citizens pursue autonomy and the good life. The key to the effective liberal state is the concrete manifestation of its basic values and assumptions in its plan of action.
Egalitarian in nature, effective liberal plans rely on the voluntary or forced redistribution of wealth. In the name of the poor, the elderly, and the children, the liberal state redistributes from those who have it to those who do not. In a democratic society, liberals rely on the voting power of the masses to legislate taxation, social security, welfare and other liberal plans and programs.
Taxation and majority rule provide the muscles for all other plans and programs such as equal educational rights in the form of affirmative action or equal health care in various health programs. Liberals codify morality into a legal system. Plans and programs multiply as the liberal state grows in numbers and complexity.
It is interesting to note that the liberal state reduces almost everything to the common denominator for egalitarian purposes except religion. Religion presents an inherent threat to the liberal state because religion maintains that ultimate authority is an entity other than the liberal state or the individual citizen. Therefore, the liberal state nullifies the potential religious threat by aggressively separating religion from the liberal state.
However, the liberal state faces inherent doom in the profound evil that lurks behind the blinding facade. Like socialism and communism, liberalism cannot succeed in its utopian vision of the good life. Although reasonable liberals, as all liberals, deny the inherent and profound consequences of liberalism, the failures of socialistic and communistic states reinforce the weakness of the liberal state.
The fact is that liberal programs result in the direst consequences of creating and fostering values that ultimately destroy the liberal state. For redistribution of goods to work, the liberal state must emphasize the importance of recipients over donors. The poor and the weak shall indeed inherit the liberal state. The ultimate elimination of those who create wealth also eliminates those who most often are the economic movers and shakers of a society.
Programs such as affirmative action result in preferential treatment of one group of citizens over another based on the occurrences of past injustices. Inherent in such programs is the creation and emphasis of adversary groups that are profoundly divisive to the unity of a state. Liberal policies and programs to remedy past injustices only create new groups of victims.
Social welfare policies and programs betray the socialistic and communistic aspect of the liberal state. The total focus is on needs at the sacrifice of what is deserved. In the process, large segments of the population become wards of the liberal state. The irony of liberal egalitarianism is that policies of redistribution of wealth create an even larger class of have-nots. Void of any real sense of practicality, liberals answer with more social welfare thereby creating an even larger class of have-nots.
The irony of liberal egalitarianism is even more blatant in the educational policies and programs of the liberal state. The disproportionate emphasis on the lower achieving students at the cost of the more talented students creates and fosters acceptance of low standards. Without doubt, low educational standards and large numbers of uneducated citizens lead to the demise of any modern technological state.
The liberal focus on non-worship over worship infuriates many religious people. The liberal state subtly focuses on humanism to satisfy the spiritual needs of its citizens. There is no doubt that liberals understand well that religions such as Christianity find their seat of ultimate authority not in humanity, but in God. For people of faith, any political arrangements must include tolerance and care for the religious nature of man.
At the end of the day, the liberal state fails to ensure the good life of its citizens. The egalitarian attempts to ensure equal conditions and equal results are systemic flaws of liberalism as they are of socialism and communism.
http://www.polecatologist.us/arts/vonv20010206.htm
Notes on the right
by V. Detlef von Eck, Pol.D.
02/06/2001
Definitions of liberalism are elusive. Different liberals propose profoundly different conceptions of the liberal state. There are, however, basic values and basic assumptions that unite most reasonable liberals.
According to most liberals, the liberal state should foster and guarantee at least the basic values of plurality, freedom, rights, equality, and distributive justice. Liberals emphasize these values because they permit the individuals of the liberal state to live and act autonomously. One can almost see John Deweys notion of the individual as an independent value and thinking center lurking behind the notion of liberal autonomy.
The basic values yield the following basic assumptions that unite most reasonable liberals. Thinking and living patterns of individuals must reflect a plurality of reasonable conceptions of the good life in the liberal state. The liberal state must guarantee the freedom and equality of its citizens. Equally important, the liberal state must create and maintain a just distribution of goods citizens need to pursue and sustain the various conceptions of the good life. Of course, equality in distribution demands that the liberal state maintain the right of each citizen to these goods. Furthermore, citizens of the liberal state can and should decide for themselves the conceptions of the good life and they can and should act autonomously within the private sphere of those rights.
Liberals may differ in their interpretations and emphasis of the basic values and basic assumptions. More importantly, they may differ about how the liberal state and its citizens pursue autonomy and the good life. The key to the effective liberal state is the concrete manifestation of its basic values and assumptions in its plan of action.
Egalitarian in nature, effective liberal plans rely on the voluntary or forced redistribution of wealth. In the name of the poor, the elderly, and the children, the liberal state redistributes from those who have it to those who do not. In a democratic society, liberals rely on the voting power of the masses to legislate taxation, social security, welfare and other liberal plans and programs.
Taxation and majority rule provide the muscles for all other plans and programs such as equal educational rights in the form of affirmative action or equal health care in various health programs. Liberals codify morality into a legal system. Plans and programs multiply as the liberal state grows in numbers and complexity.
It is interesting to note that the liberal state reduces almost everything to the common denominator for egalitarian purposes except religion. Religion presents an inherent threat to the liberal state because religion maintains that ultimate authority is an entity other than the liberal state or the individual citizen. Therefore, the liberal state nullifies the potential religious threat by aggressively separating religion from the liberal state.
However, the liberal state faces inherent doom in the profound evil that lurks behind the blinding facade. Like socialism and communism, liberalism cannot succeed in its utopian vision of the good life. Although reasonable liberals, as all liberals, deny the inherent and profound consequences of liberalism, the failures of socialistic and communistic states reinforce the weakness of the liberal state.
The fact is that liberal programs result in the direst consequences of creating and fostering values that ultimately destroy the liberal state. For redistribution of goods to work, the liberal state must emphasize the importance of recipients over donors. The poor and the weak shall indeed inherit the liberal state. The ultimate elimination of those who create wealth also eliminates those who most often are the economic movers and shakers of a society.
Programs such as affirmative action result in preferential treatment of one group of citizens over another based on the occurrences of past injustices. Inherent in such programs is the creation and emphasis of adversary groups that are profoundly divisive to the unity of a state. Liberal policies and programs to remedy past injustices only create new groups of victims.
Social welfare policies and programs betray the socialistic and communistic aspect of the liberal state. The total focus is on needs at the sacrifice of what is deserved. In the process, large segments of the population become wards of the liberal state. The irony of liberal egalitarianism is that policies of redistribution of wealth create an even larger class of have-nots. Void of any real sense of practicality, liberals answer with more social welfare thereby creating an even larger class of have-nots.
The irony of liberal egalitarianism is even more blatant in the educational policies and programs of the liberal state. The disproportionate emphasis on the lower achieving students at the cost of the more talented students creates and fosters acceptance of low standards. Without doubt, low educational standards and large numbers of uneducated citizens lead to the demise of any modern technological state.
The liberal focus on non-worship over worship infuriates many religious people. The liberal state subtly focuses on humanism to satisfy the spiritual needs of its citizens. There is no doubt that liberals understand well that religions such as Christianity find their seat of ultimate authority not in humanity, but in God. For people of faith, any political arrangements must include tolerance and care for the religious nature of man.
At the end of the day, the liberal state fails to ensure the good life of its citizens. The egalitarian attempts to ensure equal conditions and equal results are systemic flaws of liberalism as they are of socialism and communism.
http://www.polecatologist.us/arts/vonv20010206.htm
