Politics: Defining Liberalism
It was very challenging for me to come to grasp what it meant to be liberal, probably because most liberals have never tried.
Conservatism is easy: the government should only do what is strictly necessary. This means few social programs, low taxes, fewer laws, respect for privacy, etc. To a conservative, most things are simply not the government's job to orchestrate.
This fits the concept of the social contract well, wherein humans stay in society because it improves their quality of life, so if the government starts making life more difficult, it's not doing it's job.
And that's the linchpin for defining liberalism too, because if we're in a society to make out lives better, than isn't it the society's job to work to improve everybody's quality of life? And doesn't the government represent the society?
So a liberal is one who believes that the government's job to take action to improve the lives of the citizens.
This is noble, but problematic. To govern does not mean the same as to manage. It literally means to limit. Intrinsically, every law limits a person's right to do something. We agree to this because these limitations lead to our own protection. But it also means that every action that a government takes to make things better in some way also makes things worse. This isn't an argument so say that a government should never act, but that we must always be aware of the consequences, both of individual actions, and of the whole of the actions of government. I will speak more on this subject later.
There is a spectrum to how much involvement a government should have in the lives of it's masters. It is as follows:
Anarchism - Functionally no government. Individuals are completely responsible for their own wellbeing, and agreements (in the form of laws and the social contract) are made on either an individual basis, or on a tacit concord. Little in the way of widespread utilities.
Conservatism - Limited government where laws are made and enforcible, but individual responsibility is still key. Government regulates the basic infrastructure. Utilities, programs, and services are mostly privately owned.
Liberalism - Moderate government where many utilities and services are run by the government, and where social change is a government responsibility.
Socialism - Large government that controls vital utilities, programs, and services.
Communism - All encompassing government that controls the entire economy.
Conservatism is easy: the government should only do what is strictly necessary. This means few social programs, low taxes, fewer laws, respect for privacy, etc. To a conservative, most things are simply not the government's job to orchestrate.
This fits the concept of the social contract well, wherein humans stay in society because it improves their quality of life, so if the government starts making life more difficult, it's not doing it's job.
And that's the linchpin for defining liberalism too, because if we're in a society to make out lives better, than isn't it the society's job to work to improve everybody's quality of life? And doesn't the government represent the society?
So a liberal is one who believes that the government's job to take action to improve the lives of the citizens.
This is noble, but problematic. To govern does not mean the same as to manage. It literally means to limit. Intrinsically, every law limits a person's right to do something. We agree to this because these limitations lead to our own protection. But it also means that every action that a government takes to make things better in some way also makes things worse. This isn't an argument so say that a government should never act, but that we must always be aware of the consequences, both of individual actions, and of the whole of the actions of government. I will speak more on this subject later.
There is a spectrum to how much involvement a government should have in the lives of it's masters. It is as follows:
Anarchism - Functionally no government. Individuals are completely responsible for their own wellbeing, and agreements (in the form of laws and the social contract) are made on either an individual basis, or on a tacit concord. Little in the way of widespread utilities.
Conservatism - Limited government where laws are made and enforcible, but individual responsibility is still key. Government regulates the basic infrastructure. Utilities, programs, and services are mostly privately owned.
Liberalism - Moderate government where many utilities and services are run by the government, and where social change is a government responsibility.
Socialism - Large government that controls vital utilities, programs, and services.
Communism - All encompassing government that controls the entire economy.