As anyone who knows me probably knows, one of my biggest annoyances is the way the word liberalism has been perverted by socialists, statists and conservatives to mean the opposite of what it originally meant. I’ve just come across a perfect example which shows how little this modern, American ‘liberalism’ differs from conservatism:
To lay a ghost at the outset and to dismiss semantics, a liberal is here defined as one who believes in utilizing the full force of government for the advancement of social, political, and economic justice at the municipal, state, national, and international levels…. A liberal believes government is a proper tool to use in the development of a society which attempts to carry Christian principles of conduct into practical effect.
Senator Joseph S. Clark, Jr. -
Okay, so ‘liberals’ differ from conservatives in many of their ends, a ‘liberal’ has a different conception of justice and to day these so-called liberals shirk away from religion more, but the essence is the same, the government must use force and coercion to impose what politicians think is best. The argument is then simply about what should be forced upon people rather than is this the legitimate purpose of government, what is its ends and wouldn’t leaving the individual free to run their own lives be better.
