26/10/2006 - I am a liberal.

Note 1. To be liberal means to think.

Liberalism is not an unchanging unifying creed or ideology. Often contradictory discourses and institutions sustain it. But some generalizations can be made. And they directly address many of the central issues of our times. We should not allow the term to be trashed.

No man is an island, entire of itself

every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main

if a clod be washed away by the sea, 

Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, 

as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were

any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind

and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls

it tolls for thee. 

John Donne

I was recently accused of being a ‘bleeding heart leftie’ and a ‘liberal loony’ and my immediate reaction was: ‘Hang around? I’m not a loony!’

I have a well thought out take on a rapidly evolving universe. In fact; I spend a fair bit of time thinking about all sorts of things: Politics. Sleeping. Sex. Religion. Frogs. Iraq. Global warming. Birds. Sex. Pot plants. Cheese. Whatever. Lots of things. And I provide these many and varied topics with rational appraisal. Knitting together and ordering facts and events according to an ancient and arcane knowledge known as ‘common sense’. I am a thoroughly modern human.

Neo-cons will be palpably smug in your face. Priests will whisper subtle truth in your ear. But liberal humanists hardly ever get up on a bully pulpit and defend the good name of liberalism. But then it is a difficult gig.

After all, there is a wondrous lack of orthodoxy amongst thinking peoples. And it is an undeniable fact that the greater your educational attainment, the greater your more chance of becoming a creature of the left.

Liberalism encompasses a hundred different flavours and a hundred thousand profound philosophies. For that is the nature of the beast. So what’s not to like?

The conservative forces teach adherents they must suspend belief, make leaps of faith, and embrace dogma. Whereas I have:

No god.

No absolutes.

No divine truth.

Nowhere to run.

Nowhere to hide.

Only you, me, and the landscape.

I think that when you are dead. You are dead.

So we are all responsible.

And yes it is complicated.

And no I don’t have all the answers.

Nor do you.

(like many but not all of my liberal friends) I believe:

• In the separation of Church and State
• That there is no god  Our universe is a chaotic miasma of elemental forces guided by universal laws. Vast and unruly, yet finite, temporal, and explicable.
• .Dumbing down is dangerous. Simple solutions rarely work. The world is a wonderfully complex place. so Occam’s razor must be eternally stropped and assiduously applied.
• In evolution. We are the third extant species of chimpanzee (homo troglodytes ? pan sapiens ?) A product of evolutionary forces, blind chance, and a stunningly fecund planet. To resort to some sort of supernatural explanation simply cheapens and debases a magnificent reality.
• Teleology is dangerous. Ethics is an all-ape affair. Outside of the human psyche there is no good or bad. No virus can sin. No pot plant can pity. And there are no evil armadillos.
• Man is free. But freedom is encumbered. Man, as the author of meaning, is the sole arbiter of morality. We have only each other. “Ask not for whom the bell tolls.”
• Sex is good.
• Guns are bad.
• War should be avoided. (for patently and mind bogglingly obvious reasons)

In these most interesting of times it is the responsibility of people of a liberal persuasion to spell out, in unambiguous terms, exactly what they believe.

We have allowed terms such as ‘liberal’ or ‘left-wing’ to be used as pejoratives. We should stand our ground. To be liberal means to think.

I am a liberal. Note 2.  becoming liberal?

"If the Republicans lose this election, it will be for a simple reason. They have forgotten what conservatism means. You cannot spend and borrow more than any Democratic Congress since FDR and remain a credible conservative. You cannot elevate executive power permanently above individual liberty and remain a credible conservative. You cannot wage a war without the care, resources, and troops needed to win and remain a credible conservative. You cannot wage a religiously-based culture war and remain a limited government conservative. It's not that complicated really ."

The Daily Dish

More than any other factor the nature of our consumption defines our early ideology  Very few of us embrace an all encompassing philosophy, at the outset, guiding us all our life. We navigate through a myriad of personal ideologies, urges, and anxieties. And choose labels that appear to fit as we find and consume ideas products and services that seem to concord with ill-defined and developing appetites.

Then we get to thirty-something and try to nut it all out.

So we have become left, right, punk, gay, anarchist, blogger, yuppie, dieter, reader, traveller, non-smoker, drinker, innocent bystander. In a slow gradual process. Guided as much by chance as anything else. What was going on? What did I have access to? Who was doing and saying what? What did I like and what did I dislike? Who did I like?

And re-examination is something engaged in by a mature intellect. When young the labels mean so much more. Young people sooo like to be centrist, Marxist, socialist, capitalist, feminist, Zionist, Jihadist, or terrorist. Loudly and defiantly. Which is fair enough. We’ve all been young. Trees and forests.

Some people allow their accumulated mental habits bulldoze them through their entire life.

But most find time, somewhere, to stop and reconsider. To amend the labels and try and build a cohesive ideology that means something for them.

26/10/2006 - Well said

30/11/2006 - Right on - James

1/12/2006 - Eloquently put