Rick Kelo – Are You Really a Liberal?

Asking someone, “are you liberal?” is a very different question than asking someone “are you a liberal?” That single article makes a big difference in the response to this questions and it forces people to realize that they might not have the best working knowledge of what a liberal is, what liberalism is, and where they fall along this line. Modern American liberalism is the dominant version of liberalism in the United States and it is characterized by social liberalism and a mixed economy. Taken outside of the United States, this issue becomes more complicated so we will stay within the borders of our country. The previous definition is the typical definition that most Americans call to mind when faced with questions about their understanding of liberalism.

However, in a recent article about classicliberalism by Rick Kelo, the economist and financial expert explains how this is only one side of the liberal coin. The term liberalism diverged into classic liberalism and social liberalism in the late 1800s, with social liberals hijacking the term liberty and using it in a different way than was traditionally intended. According to Lord Acton, “a liberal’s polar star is liberty—who deems those things right in politics which, taken all round, promote, increase, perpetuate freedom, and those things wrong which impede it.” If we unpack this quote about classic liberalism, we can draw obvious contrasts between this definition and our modern understanding.

Classic liberalists promote economic individuality that is relatively free from government constraints. In contrast to modern liberalists who tend to promote more government regulation in order to forward their social agendas. True liberalism began as a philosophy that put control over economic decisions into the hands of individuals, allowing them to make the economic decisions that best suited their personal interests and families. So a major point of contention between classic liberals and modern liberals is this idea of government intervention.

For Richard Arthur Kelo, a guardianof liberal democracy (on SlideShare and other blogging platforms), drawing comparisons between modern and classic liberals is a means of helping clear some of the misunderstandings of the rhetoric surrounding current American politics. When talking about any economic or political issue with another, it is important to have the same working definitions as whomever you are speaking with. That is why the term “liberal” needs to be more clearly defined and used with a bit more prudence in mainstream political dialogue.