Classic Liberalism

Scandals, wars, economic ruination...Just a hard day at work for a politician.

There seems to be no end to the bad news. John Edwards had an affair? Of course he did. What drives men like Clinton, Edwards, Spitzer, et al. to become politicians in the first place? Are they after the money? Not likely. Most politicians are independently wealthy. There are numerous senators that are millionaires. Is it the power? Probably has something to do with it. Is it the sex? For sure. Money, power and sex are the drives, although money is not a great incentive for American politics. It seems like you already have to have money in order to join the fray.

Why does nothing ever change? The complaints my father had are the complaints I have. The complaints my father had are the complaints my grandfather probably had. Why?

It doesn't really matter who is elected to office, nothing changes. But that doesn't answer the real question. Can it be changed? Yes. But we have had no one willing to change the system. Until now...In 2008 we have witnessed a resurgence of "classical liberalism." It started when Ron Paul announced his candidacy for President. It still continues though the establishment has chosen its candidates: Barack Obama and John McCain.

Campaign for Liberty, Restore the Republic, Constitution Party and many other grassroots efforts are committed to the long term vision of restoring freedoms and liberties in America. Slowly our freedoms are being eroded in guises of safety and environmental and social concerns.

I have no fear that the establishment will maintain their stranglehold perpetually. It may get worse before it gets better but it will get better. George Orwell and Aldous Huxley amongst others may have foreseen where the evils of humanity would take us, but they did not figure God into their calculations. Without God their dystopian conceptions of the future would well play out as history, but God has different plans for our future. God grants freedom not slavery. Thus how can we even think that man could be enslaved in such "novel" ways?

The truth shall set us free. Ultimately evangelism is the spiritual answer to the "kingdoms of this world." They try and "lord it over us" and may succeed in their own goals, but we know that greatness comes from servanthood. So how do we reconcile our spiritual understanding with the politics of the day? Should we as good men sit idly by while evil men take the reigns of power? We are not talking about a monarchy here; we are talking about elected representative government.

Good men need to get involved. It is remarkable to note how a single man could change the attitude of a nation in the O.T. He would tear down the "high places" and bring God's blessing upon the land. He restored the Law-Word of God to its rightful place. Do I say we should foist a theocracy on America? No. It would not work. It would not be right. It would be missing the point.

Evangelism and changed hearts will precede a nation becoming godly. It has to come from the bottom up and inside out rather than from top down and outside in. Then and only then could we even start talking about theocracy.

But what of today? What should be our political goals and aims for this modern era? I would suggest that we start digging our heels in and slow the drift towards authoritarianism. In the short term we can work with the "freedom movement" to take back some of our God-given rights. Christian ideals lineup very closely with classical liberalism in most of its political ideals. The decentralization posed by Scripture meshes very well with individualistic libertarianism.

Philosophically the "only" problem with individualism is its neglect of man as a corporate entity. The rights of the individual supersede the rights of the group. Socialism goes to the other extreme and says the rights of the many supersede the rights of the few. Is there a moderate position to hold? I think the Christian position explains the apparent paradox between the rights of the one versus the rights of the many.

God is trinity. God is one. God is many.

Man is one. Man is many.

Socialism claims to care for the poor and libertarianism says that private charity can deal with that issue. Socialism has stated as its goal the eradication of poverty. Jesus said "The poor you have with you always." But it is also written that if you have power to do good and you neglect to do it, you have sinned. In Christianity charity is not an option.

So we can work within the confines of the "Freedom Movement" without conflict of conscience but we must note its inadequacies and make up for them with our doctrines. What if we do nothing? What if we allow evil or even aid and abet the evil by encouraging Christians to get out of politics? Will we slip into the modern "dark ages" when we are under a "one world government?" The U.N. is poised to accept a nomination...

"I motion..."

"I second..."

"All in favor..."

"Aye!"

Welcome to the "New World Order." Oh wait we are not there yet. Remember, baby steps. First it's the European Economic Community or Common Market; tomorrow it's the European Union. Today it's Canada, America and Mexico; tomorrow it's the North American Union.

Will humanity suffer it? They'll suffer it before they fight it. History bears this out. But you can bet they will fight it, eventually. These freedom loving philosophical movements all seem to begin in conditions of squalor. They all seem to originate under the most extreme of circumstances. Authoritarianism breeds a desire of freedom in people. It will happen again. There is no new thing under the sun.

Every empire has crumbled; every empire will crumble. Even this new type of empire will crumble. It is not an empire forged by war. It is not an empire built by imperialism. It is not an empire derived from politics at all. It is economic. Banking and economic alliances and economic treaties all serve to centralize the control of the monetary unit. The elitists think they are impervious to the plight of historical empires but they are wrong. People will eventually figure out who holds the reins. "Follow the money." And they will. Revolution will probably be bloody and violent. God has coded something in us...A desire to be free? Yeah. Freedom.

So what is this classical liberalism? It was a freedom movement that started under the absolute monarchies of the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe. Think authoritarianism, then think about the opposite; whatever is diametrically opposed to absolutism is classical liberalism, pretty much. These were the first "liberals." The "conservatives" during this period were the authoritarians.

Today the "conservatives" and the "liberals" are authoritarian parties. It seems as if the swapped ideologies; I guess it is the evolution of the movements. But liberalism did not maintain its freedom loving status. Today we generally say the liberals want civil freedoms while conservatives want economic freedoms and the inverse also being true. But where then did the classical liberals go? Today the expressions of classical liberalism can be found in the libertarian camp. Spawned by the free-market "Austrian" school of thought, libertarianism fights the fight of classic liberalism in the modern age.

I have a basic faith in humanity, that even if good men fail them, that they will not tolerate tyranny forever. I hope for my future and my children's future and so on that good men indeed will rise to the occasion to show the world what good people in positions of influence would do.

The status quo is no longer a good quid pro quo, when it is our liberties being traded for tyranny.