Journal Adam_Weishaupt's Journal: Interesting post from another Journal 1
This is a posting to a user named Neocons journal, by another user, Hostile17. It appears as though niether of these two have posted in a long while, but this paticular piece is an excellent post and makes many good points.
Re:the problem of left/right.
by Hostile17 on Tuesday December 03, 2002 @08:12AM
I'll take this thought a step further. The key word in describing a liberal is progressive. A true liberal accepts that change is constant and embraces new ideas and new ways of thinking to deal with the change. True liberals beleive human progress should be the single most important driving force in society, the alternative is stagnation. To sum it up in a Neconesque way:
- The only constant in the universe is change. As times change, so do people and so do problems. This requires new ways of thinking as traditional ideas become obsolete and no longer apply.
- Human beings are by their nature curious and strive to understand themselves and the universe. As this understanding expands and progresses, it gives us new ways to solve problems both old and new.
- While tradition and history are important, without new ideas and progressive thought, cultures become stagnant and often oppressive.
- Therefore attempts to freeze a society or culture in some arbitrary way, does more harm than good.
History bares this out. Almost every great cultural leap human society has taken was because some liberal-hippie-nut bag stood up and said "Thats wrong and we need to change it.". Jesus Christ, who for my money is the greatest revolutionary in the history of mankind, for instance, took a stand and promoted such radical ideas as Peace, Goodwill, Tolerance and Forgiveness, the establishment nailed him to a cross for his liberal ideas. Our own Founding Fathers had some pretty radical ideas too, they felt all men are created equal, among other things and they fought the revolutionary war for what they believed in. The abolitionists in the southern US during the mid 19th century, who felt slavery was wrong. Emily Davis and the Suffragettes who thought "GASP!" women should have the right to vote. The various Labor movements which flourished in the first half of the 20th century, whose motto was "Honest days wage for an honest days work". Of course everyones favorite, the Anti-War and Civil-Rights movements of the 60's. The list of people who fought against tradition and the establishment to bring about reform and progress goes on and on. All of these people promoted ideas which were considered "Liberal" and "Radical" at the time, but also promoted the liberty, prosperity and general welfare of the people.
On the other hand, societies which embrace tradition and resist change are among the most oppressive in the world, I point to the Theocratic regimes of the middle east as examples. These countries are among the most conservative and reactionary in the world. Their human rights records, particularly where women and children are concerned, are the worst in the world. They are destroying their own environments and sucking their own natural resources dry for the short term gain of the wealthiest 10% of the population while most of the rest toil in poverty. To say their health care system sucks, would be a world class understatement. The employees in these countries don't make living wages let alone health insurance or retirement plans. The only rights women have is to be beaten by their husbands. Opportunities for people not born into the upper class to better their positions in life are nearly non-existent. From my point of view the problem with these countries is no significant progressive reform has ever taken place in these countries. Culturally, socially and morally these countries have been frozen in the 18th century. When you consider the constitution, when it was written, only applied to free white men, how different from these countries would the United States be if none of the progressive reforms I mentioned in the previous paragraph, had ever taken place ? The United States is a great nation, not becuase of its military might or its free market economy, but because it is the most progressive nation on earth.
-- Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power - Benito Mussoli
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