This is a question that really begs for a clear and a concise answer. I've read numerous times on other blogs where people date the establishment of liberalism in this country as a dominant political force merely back to the 1960s. Is this the case? Is American liberalism really only a few decades old?
Personally I think liberalism has always been with us. In fact I can date it back, and show examples of its manifestations to the 1840s at the very least. But I think we make an error if we do not put a finger on a date and an event which would be the turning point for the rise of liberalism on a national scale. I believe this turning point came when the fourteenth amendment and the incorporation clause was ratified. Prior to this event, liberalism as a viable political force was kept relatively at bay...
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Is Liberalism a new ideology, or is it as old as the devil himself?
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4 comments:
I'd suggest, like you seem to be saying, that the ideas pre-date Marx, although he's probably the father of modern liberalism.
-MT
Yes, there are a lot of complex issues here. "Liberals" are at least as old as John Locke. But liberalism has meant different things at different times. "Liberalism" was actually even more dominant back around WWII, though it didn't mean what it now does. In 1950, Lionel Trilling wrote that liberalism was America's sole intellectual tradition, and he wasn't exactly laughed at.
What I would call "modern liberalism" only gained any degree of recognition starting in the Sixties, however. The particular anti-Western turn didn't really materialize until then. Even Marx wasn't really anti-Western, so to say -- he respected the way it had achieved the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution, unlike other parts of the world.
Most people would probably doubt that there was any such thing as liberalism in ancient times, however.
You might want to read After Liberalism by Paul Gottfried, a well-known traditionalist scholar. I'm glad you brought up the question.
Ok... let me start off by saying I am by no means an expert on this subject. But I would like to add a little food for thought.
"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun"
-Ecclesiastes 1:9
Now I realize that does not refute what your saying, I'm not trying to I'm just suggesting that maybe "liberalism" dates farther back. In my opinion liberalism dates back as far as the Israelites. Although I don't have any references at this moment. Thank you for the question it has inspired me to do some much needed study on this subject. I can't wait to hear what everyone has to say.
Well, the post title suggests that I believe liberalism (not necessarily so named) can be traced all the way back to the garden of Eden, which I certainly do.
Auster refers to liberalism as a "demonic rebellion against the authority of the sovereign God," or something like that. I would tend to agree. So when anonymous refers to the Ecclesiastical writer (Solomon?) where he basically asserts that everything has already been attempted and it all turns out to be vanity and vexation of spirit by his own experience, his (the writer's) conclusion makes all kinds of sense to me.
As to what constitutes "modern liberalism" my main point in putting this post up was to explore what I believe to be the reality which is that what we now identify as "liberalism," and by that definition of the term, manifestations of the same can be identified as far back as one desires to go in American history. The difference between now and, say, pre-civil-war American history is that our structure of government then presented it (liberalism) with few opportunities to expand beyond a certain localized sphere of operation.
-Terry
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