By Veritas Libertatis
“The liberal agenda: Being good to Liberals.”-George F Will, American Journalist
“A conservative is a liberal mugged by reality.”-Irving Kristol, American Journalist
In the world of politics the divide in political ideology is becoming increasingly larger and is hindering our ability to unite as a nation. The lack of understanding between liberals, conservatives, and those few and far between leave little hope in our discord as Americans.
In his book Are You Liberal Conservative or Confused, Richard Maybury seeks to define what it means to be liberal or conservative and further on he proposes his own political ideology.
Liberal is defined by the Columbia Encyclopedia as “based, in general, on faith in progress and in the ability and goodness of man, and on firm belief in the importance of the rights and welfare of the individual…Liberalism advocates steady change.” The Columbia Encyclopedia defined Conservative as “the desire to maintain, or conserve, the existing order. Conservatives highly value the wisdom of the past and are generally opposed to widespread reform.” “Based on these two definition, the major clash between these two political ideologies is not their method in attaining an end, but rather what that end result is.”
Richard Maybury said: “Liberals and conservatives both agree that encroaching on you is a fine and necessary thing; they disagree only on the details”(p. 42). Encroachment as defined by the 1828 Dictionary is “The entering gradually on the rights or possessions of another, and taking possessions.” Maybury places the details on encroachment into two categories: economic and social. Generally speaking, conservatives believe that encroachment from the government is appropriate when it is regulating social issues. Liberals tend to believe that the government should encroach upon the economy but not the social issues of the people. Social issues include alchohol, tobacco, drugs, books, magazines, movies, gambling, and sexual practices1. If the fight between liberals and conservatives were as simple as the method used to achieve an end then compromise and harmony could become a reality, but when the very end of the two ideologies clash our identity as a nation may be lost.
As political power passes from one party to another with each working effortlessly toward their end the result will be economic and social encroachment. In order to combat political power the Founding Fathers established a Constitution in which both the social and economic affairs of the people could be safe from infringement. Instead of calling for compromise between these two ideologies, perhaps we should be calling both to step down so that we have liberty both economically and socially. A person who advocates this ideology, liberty both economically and socially, is called a Juris Naturalist. They are a “Classical liberal. Believes in Higher Law or Natural Law, that right and wrong are not matters of opinion. Believes political power corrupts both morals and judgment. Wants a government that is small and growing smaller.”(p. 133) There are many good things in the liberal perspective and the same is true for a conservative point of view, there are also many dangerous and scary beliefs in both. America should not be united under which form of encroachment is better but that no encroachment is necessary.
Bibliography
- Maybury, Rick. Are You Liberal? Conservative? Or Confused? Placerville, Ca, Bluestocking Press, 2004.
- “Irving Kristol Quote.” A-Z Quotes, www.azquotes.com/quote/850081. Accessed 26 Mar. 2022.
“George F. Will Quote: ‘the Liberal Agenda: Being Good to Liberals.’” Quotefancy.com, quotefancy.com/quote/1469754/George-F-Will-The-liberal-agenda-Being-good-to-liberals. Accessed 26 Mar. 2022.