18 Nov 2003 @ 17:53, by Bruce Kodish
"Liberal" can be used to refer to "being committed to a rational and peaceful approach to political questions, to the benefits of pluralism and an open society, to individual freedom and individual rights." (Wisse, p. 134)
In that sense I qualify as a 'liberal'.
"Liberal" unfortunately has also come to also imply a kind of fellow-traveler of the leftist quest for cosmic justice under philosophical socialism. I've been there, done that, and dropped it.
But I still maintain that the classical liberal values have much to offer. Often my friends who call themselves 'conservatives' cherish and promote these 'liberal' values much more consciously and carefully than my friends who call themselves 'liberals'. Oh, Well.
A grave danger for 'liberals' comes from what Wisse calls "liberal fundamentalism." As she wrote in "If I Am Not For Myself" :
"When liberal optimism is confronted by determined aggression, either it admits the reality of aggression and suspends its belief that the world is liberal for long enough to help make it so, or it maintains its liberal optimism and denies the reality of aggression. The conditional or skeptical liberal will respond to the threat of assault by demanding the right of self-defense in a "just war" and by preparing for extended battle. The liberal fundamentalist, contrarily, is one for whom liberalism is less a political preference than an ontological principle. He must therefore deny the aggression that contradicts his belief." (p. 135)
'Liberals'......Wake Up!
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