For brevity sake I will just use the phrase Liberalism. While I believe modern conservatism has the values and policies that work best to secure a free, prosperous, moral and happy country it is important to understand why the opposing model, liberalism, cannot accomplish these ends. Quite simply it is because it is based upon lies.
The fundamental lie is that what people call “liberal” today no longer conforms to what historically liberalism meant, in fact classic liberalism better defines conservatism today. In the 18th century political philosophers, such as Edmund Burke and John Locke, were presenting an alternative to the all powerful states led by monarchs. The ideas they and others were creating created the philosophical foundation for our Founding Fathers, government of the people. To be a liberal then meant that you absolutely opposed large government. They, in my opinion, correctly understood that large government by definition restricted individual rights, innovation and freedom. An all powerful state demands conformity. This runs against human nature as God created all of us to be unique individuals capable of creating our own futures.
Modern liberals believe in the Marxist concept of “from each according to their ability and to each according to their needs.”. In other words, you use all of your talents and energy and you will be compensated based upon what the government, not your personal desires, deems you should receive. Does that make sense to you? Is this the motivation of people? Of course not! People want to work hard and use their talents to succeed and prosper. It is this ability to succeed that causes people to take the huge financial risk of starting their own businesses as one example. The economic strength of the nation is best served by all of these individuals deciding to pursue their own dreams and giving other, consumers, the power to decide if what they do should be rewarded, not the government. Capitalism is a necessary ingredient for a classical liberal society to grow. Today’s modern so called liberals create the lie that a central planner in Washington can make the right decision for the economy. They feel they should decide what energy you should use, what type of car you should drive, how your health care should be delivered, etc. This does not advance individual freedom and general prosperity, rather it accumulates power into the hands of the bureaucrats and restricts economic growth. The proof of this occurred in the first 3 years of the Trump administration when taxes were cut and, much more importantly, regulations were cut. What were the results? Jobs grew at historic rates, unemployment was at a record low, particularly for women and people of color. Individual incomes grew, particularly for middle and lower classes. Poverty was reduced and, here is the surprise, revenues to the federal government increased! One can only wonder where we would be if not for the overseas plague that caused the economy to contract in 2020, though by the 3d quarter we were once again seeing a strong rebound because the foundation of the US economy was strong going into it. Unfortunately, the liberals saw this current crisis as an opportunity to extend their power and control over the economy and it’s citizens. I am paraphrasing, but former President Obama recently said that the pandemic has a silver lining in that it has made more people comfortable with being reliant upon the government. A stunning admission. This and other flaws with modern liberalism will be covered in future posts. I look forward to your comments.