Am I A Liberal? Well…Sort of.

At least, I used to be. I used to be the kind of liberal who believed in the protection and empowerment of individuals and institutions over against encroachment and invasion by the sovereign political power. I held views coeval with the emergence of ideas of constitutionally limited government, natural rights, a free-market economy, private property, civil liberties, and a robust sense of individualism. In those things, I still believe.

But… “liberalism” has changed. It has taken on the mantra of power instead of freedom, e.g., just try to proclaim the Christian message in the public square and see if the power of the society and of politically correct public discourse does not put the shutters on your mouth. That’s power in its most subtle and ubiquitous form. Just try to express your conscience-given ideas of the immorality of abortion or same-sex marriage and see what happens! No—present day “liberalism” will turn its back on you after it has thoroughly castigated you for your candor.

Present day liberalism more rightly goes by the name “progressivism,” and it is the politics of Presidents Obama and Clinton, of the Kennedys and of the Democratic Party. It has given up its moral underpinnings and now relies on trying to produce an equality of outcome rather than an equality of opportunity. It is a belief that puts its reliance on big government and bureaucracies. It is a system that says to the people, “You can have anything you want from the government if you just vote yourself the benefit. Somebody else will pay for it.” It is a system of thought and government that is doomed to fall, just as the socialist societies of Europe are doomed to fall for the obvious reason—the worker bees cannot keep up with the demands of the proletariat for government benefits.

Our society needs to regain the benefits of true, morality-based, liberal principles. We need to turn away from the era of big government and tell people what the truth is about how to live. The longer we keep our mouths shut, the worse this welfare-state situation in our country is going to be.