Sunday, August 06, 2006

Classic Liberalism

Ihe classical-liberal character is virtually absent, and any few elassical-liberal denizens probably keep their views at least half hidden. We venture to say that self-reinfbreing sorting mechanisms now make the discipline unapproachable by anyone who is unabashedly classically liberal.
Social democrats should reeognize classical liberalism as a venerable tradition. They should recognize that its antistatist sensibilities remain a vibrant and valuable part of the general political culture. To say that classical liberalism is underrepresented would be a vast understatement. Forbidden might be more fitting. The lack of classical liberalism, has worked to the detriment of all polticals and the public purposes that presumably should be fulfilling.

1 comment:

Brainpolice said...

Yes. I wish classical liberalism made a resurgence. It was the advent of socialism that caused the classical liberalism to decay, as "the left" went from an anti-authoritarian movement to a socialist movement. By the time we get to the early 20th century, we have people calling themselves "liberals" that have very little in common with the original liberal tradition.