A rose by any other name...

We all know that quote, and it may be true. But it's also true that giving something that doesn't smell like a rose an attractive name will make it more appealing, at least initially. Take the term "liberal." If you didn't know any better, you would think a liberal was someone who was committed to freedom and liberty. You would think a liberal would praise economic as well as individual liberty, and in general advocate freedom from government intervention. This was true up until the end of the nineteenth century, perhaps even as late as the New Deal era, but it is no longer true today.

Today, a true liberal has to be called a "classical liberal" or a libertarian in order to distinguish him from a left-wing Democrat, with which "liberal" has now become conflated. Those of us on the right have helpfully given the word over without a fight, with all of its positive connotations. Even better, we now use it as a four-letter word: You're such a bleeding heart liberal! No one on the right wants to be called a liberal, but that's exactly what we should want to be called. We need to take our word back.

Those of us who believe in liberty, true liberty, ought to stop looking at "liberal" in the specious context in which it is now used, and instead look at it in the context in which it ought to be, and so recently was, used. True liberty is about having the right to make choices for yourself (even bad ones), to keep your own money, to live without excessive government intervention. Real liberals know this. Left-wingers don't believe in true liberty, so they don't deserve to be called liberals. (Believing in a woman's right to choose does not make you a true liberal when you also believe in taking gun rights away from lawful citizens. With liberty, it's an all or nothing proposition.) Stop letting them (and helping them) smear "liberal" with meanings that have nothing to do with liberty, and start taking it back.

"Bleeding heart left-winger" doesn't have the same ring to it, but it sure is a lot more accurate.

A slave is a being who allows others to make his choices for him.

I've been a libertarian forever. I don't like the government, except in very small doses, and I especially hate paying taxes. But it's been just recently that I've started reading a lot more; economics books (if you haven't ever read one, get a simple one and read it - The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford is a great place to start), political blogs, etc. The more I read, the angrier I get. Every day, the government encroaches a little more on our freedoms, takes a little more choice away from us. Even more upsetting, few people seem to care. Talk to most people about smoking bans or mandatory seatbelt laws, and they'll say they don't care because "they're for our own good" or "those don't affect me." And granted, these are very small things- if you look at them by themselves.

But if every day, or every month, the government takes a small freedom away from the people... those small freedoms are going to start adding up before too long. Unfortunately, many people are too shortsighted to see this. Others are happy with the government making decisions for them, so they don't mind that they aren't truly free. I mind a lot. And I think we're already at a point where so many small freedoms have been taken from us, that most of us don't even think much of it when another one is taken away. I think something needs to be done now, before it's too late - if it isn't already.

I argue politics when I had an opponent, rage at the TV when I see Hillary Clinton on it, and frequently tell everyone how much I hate the government. And people say to me: "What can you do about it? Stop getting so upset." And while that may be true, I would like to try to do something. This blog isn't much, but it's better than sitting on the couch complaining about the way things are going. I know there are many people that think like I do. If we all get angry enough to start doing something about it, we could change this country for the better. Do something! Start a blog, write a letter to an editor, join a local group that believes as you do. But do something! Apathy will get us nowhere.

~Libertarianista

Reading suggestion: Hologram of Liberty, by Kenneth W. Royce. He argues that the Constituion was never meant to keep the government small, that it was structured in such a way to allow the creeping growth of the federal government that we've seen. Very good book, and more than worth picking up a copy.

Finally: the title of this post is a quote by Aristotle.