Restoring the Left and the Right

Calling all classical Liberals! Can you hear me out there? Are there any classical Liberals left out there? Hello? Hello?!!! Yeah that's what I was afraid of. They are just too spread out to really get a clear message to them.

I have started trying to define myself politically. I will probably add more to it later. But, here it is for now: I am a Conservative Independent with some Libertarian leanings, a healthy respect for classical Liberalism, and considerably less respect for Progressivism/Progressive Liberalism. That is certainly a mouthful, or a keyboard full. But, it's the best I can come up with for now.

I’m going to cover a topic that I've covered before, but that I need to brush up on. The founding fathers understood the political spectrum in this way: The very furthest left is Tyranny. The very furthest right is Anarchy. It was their intention to establish a Constitution that was smack dab in the middle. They knew that they needed a limited but strong central government. That way the peoples divinely bestowed rights would be protected, and people would be free to pursue happiness while not interfering in the rights of anyone else. It was brilliantly done.

The founders understood that there would be times when changes to government would need to be made. So, they set that up within the very structure of the Constitution. Amendments could be made, though it was necessarily not an easy process. By doing this the founders assured that there would be a continual conversation politically both left and right leaning.

The left side was to be the problem-solving side. Those on this side were the classic Liberals. They would look at issues and see things that need change in order to better serve the people, and to hopefully increase freedom. The right side was the Conservative side. They would look at proposed changes and ask, 'will the change cost too much?' and 'will the change take away freedoms?' If the answer to either one of those questions is yes, than the change ought not to be made.

This is quite an ingenious set-up. Ingenious because it makes so much sense. Think about your own decision making. Effective decision making involves identifying a need, than asking yourself if it is necessary, will it truly make your life better, and will it cost too much.

I have titled my post 'Restoring the Left and the Right.' I did so because I feel that over time the left and right has all moved, left. The historical Conservative is no longer on the right of the political spectrum. At best Conservatives are hanging on with their fingernails to the center and the Constitution. And the idea of Classical Liberalism is all but faded into non-existance (though every once in a while I do catch shades of it).

Classical Liberalism has been replaced hook line and almost sinker by Progressivism. Progressivism is a lot less about making people free and a lot more about Government taking control and forcing people into a Utopian, thought free society. Yeah I really don't like Progressivism.

Side-note, it has dawned on me recently why Progressives are offended when we call them Socialists. It's because the modern Socialists, e.g. European Socialism, designed themselves after American Progressivism. They stole it from Americans, they just went about it more quickly than this country would allow. Anyway, I think they get all offended because European Socialism is just a copy cat and not the real thing. Progressivism sounds much more noble, and it is built on the idea of enlightened leaders, with superior intellects. But, it comes to the same thing. More and more government, less and less personal responsibility.

Anyway, in order to restore freedom we really need to reset the original left and right. Conservatives need to be more vocal. They need to take a stand so that the shift to the left is halted. Then will begin the long haul back to the center. And we really desperately need some intellectually honest and forthright classical Liberals. People who really believe that we need Liberation, which means freedom, which means less government.