The Definition of a Liberal     August 2004 

Mark Twain once wrote that if you were young and a conservative you were hard-hearted. If you were old and a liberal you were a fool. His bitter satire brought him much fame and prestige – and food for thought in a new and scary world. 

A recent letter asked the question, “What is a conservative?” Then it proceeded to lambaste said conservatives with a variety of odious names. Unfortunately, that’s what’s wrong with today’s liberals – they don’t know who they are or what they are opposing. Not knowing, they resort to name-calling to support their ever-narrowing agenda. 

Let me help.  

Webster says conservatism is “a philosophy based upon the tradition of social stability: stressing established institutions, preferring gradual development to abrupt change.”  

Conservatives stick to what works. Don’t reinvent the wheel. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. The longest, greatest empires such as Egypt (4000 years) and Rome (2000 years) were conservative. 

The problem with conservatism, of course, is entropy: the truth that all things constantly change. The ancient Greeks understood this, saying that a table is not truly a table but an assortment of wood that is slowly disintegrating into dust. Change happens – you can’t stop it. 

Webster calls liberalism a “philosophy based upon a belief in progress, the essential goodness of man and the protection of individual rights.”  

Liberals like change. There’s always a better way – let’s find it.  

Unfortunately, every great country that has embraced liberalism quickly eroded into a pale shadow of its former self. Sorry - those are the facts. Greece, the first democracy, after destroying the mighty Persian Empire, quickly disintegrated into a myriad of different parts. Spain, France, and Great Britain were all “super-powers” of their day until their liberal factions turned them into socialist states. The Roman Empire rotted from within. “Bread and Circuses” actually started as a welfare program to appease the growing masses. 

Liberals don’t like to talk about mighty empires. They think of themselves not so much as citizens of America but as citizens of the world.  

Unfortunately, India and China thought this way until the Mongols raped and pillaged millions of their people.  

So who is right? Should we be liberal or conservative? I think most clear-thinking Americans know that somewhere down the middle is a good place to be.  

Hence, the modern Democrat’s problem.  

Modern Democrats have abandoned the center. There are a lot of great Democrats out there who are every bit as good or better than Republicans. But you cannot deny that they are the party who supports partial-birth abortion, same-sex marriage, the war on Judeo-Christian values, and the promulgation of the welfare state. It is they who unconsciously abet our enemies by denigrating the War on Terror. No Democratic president has ever been so cruelly disparaged in a time of war. 

It’s alarming how the Democrats have changed! Remember, the first American liberal and the founder of the Democratic Party, Thomas Jefferson, supported states rights, limited the federal government and was very fiscal conservative. That is why Senator Phil Graham (R-Tex) said after the Republicans won the House of Representatives that, “Reconstruction is finally over.” Because up until that time, it was the Democrats who were the conservatives.  

Who changed the Democratic Party? FDR and his colossal “New Deal.” By spending lots and lots of money to get people working, he inadvertently changed the Democrats from the fiscally conservative party to that of “Big Government.” 

Was FDR right? Perhaps for his time. But we are no longer in the Great Depression. Ronald Reagan effectively refuted the merits of big government. He then embraced the “old fashioned” policies of family values and personal morality that Democrats so eagerly discarded. Now, for the first time in a century, the Republicans control the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives.  

And what is the Democrat’s response? Call the president names and flee farther to the left. 

Of course we should respect liberal ideas. The American Revolution was a liberal idea. Freeing the slaves (a Republican initiative) was a liberal idea. Giving women the right to vote (yep, Republicans again) was a liberal idea.  

But in time of war - when our lives and freedoms are threatened by zealots who want to destroy us - it is incumbent to embrace the strengths that conservatism provides: patriotism, sacrifice, and unity above self. Otherwise, like other liberal nations before us, we will rot from within - succumbing to the pressures of our gathering enemies.  

Americans everywhere vowed they would never forget 9/11.  

Three years later and we have already forgotten.