Life is an on-going battle between liberalism and illiberalism. This has been so for 2600 years, ever since the Greeks discovered and invented reason. This contest is true for every individual and society which is decently aware of Western liberalism. The philosophy, culture, lifestyle, and attitude of liberalism wages a pivotal and never-ending war against its right-wing and left-wing opposites.
"Conservatives" are really reactionaries against liberalism. "Progressives" are really regressives against liberalism. The old ideas and institutions which the Right seeks to hold onto aren’t worth conserving, and are inferior to the liberal alternatives. The new ideas and institutions which the Left seeks to move towards don’t constitute progress, and are inferior to the liberal alternatives. Both conservatism and progressivism are irrational and immoral.
Both the right-wing conservatives and the left-wing progressives are fatuous and depraved enemies which seek to replace and destroy the philosophy, culture, lifestyle, and attitude of liberalism, along with its dynamic, heroic, healthy, and happy practitioners and civilizations. But decently educated liberal individuals and societies have a formidable amount of tools and power with which to defeat their Rightist and Leftist enemies.
Actually, progressives were right in the liberal tradition, and socialists constantly attacked them. Sometime around 1990, socialists realized that everyone had forgotten what progressives had stood for, and began calling themselves progressives. In the US, socialists had done the same thing by calling themselves liberals, which is why we now have to say "classical liberals."
ReplyDeleteI suppose we will have to say "classical progressives."
Dan Sullivan -- Yes, but that terminology is very confusing. Better to keep it simple. Life is a battle between philosophic liberals and illiberals. It's been that way for 2600 years now. Politically, life is a battle between conservatives, progressives, and liberals. The political beliefs of the cons and progs is hugely false and evil.
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