Conservatives, liberals, and freedom

          Conservatives, liberals, and freedom

          For the last several years, conservatives have been dominating the political arena. Eventually, they ran out of appealing ideas, and the Democrats capitalized on this opportunity. The new leadership in Congress will have to deal with the same problems that they were unable to address when being in minority. We still have the same misinformed public. We have the same political elites who have not been able to produce better solutions so far. In the new Congress discussions fall into a rut of old rhetoric.

          Liberals and conservatives are two sides of the same forged coin.
Many political debates are presented as a clash between conservatives and liberals. Some say that this is the pivotal political division of our times. It implies that the truth is somewhere between these two options. If this perspective were correct, we would not have major problems, as the right solutions would be always on hand from one or another side of the political spectrum. And, if brought to light, in most instances they would prevail.

          The division between conservatives and liberals is a rift in political circles that does not reflect the real political views of people of this nation.

          In the past two centuries, compassionate people – today’ liberals – were disgusted with the greed of the capitalistic system and sought ways to mitigate it with social policies. Greed was perceived as the opposite to higher human values. Liberals would tell us that there are more important things in life than money. Government intervention was seen as necessary to guarantee for all people a fair share of the wealth of society. Whatever the reasoning behind the liberal approach and whatever the sugar coating of their policies, in reality socialism is in the background.

          The strength of conservative thought is in the simple scientific truth that the free market economy with limited government, in the end, is better for everybody than the government that tries to be a modern Robin Hood by taking from the rich and giving it back to the poor. Solutions inspired by socialistic ideas hamper entrepreneurship and lead to dependency on the social services of less resourceful individuals, resulting in making everybody poorer. Today’s conservatives were able to explain and sell this concept to the public. This is where the traditional liberal thinkers, inspired by socialistic ideas, lost ground.

          After obtaining power and influence in media, today’s conservatives took the best of both worlds. They loosened government control over the economy and lowered taxes. However, whatever government rule over the economy remained was available for the Washington lobbyists to grab. The rich got richer; the middle class, having no political representation, got poorer. Conservatives seek social stability by preserving traditional values. However, as soon as they obtained influence, they had temptations and the possibility of imposing their moral and nationalistic agendas on others.
 
          The public, torn apart between pro-socialistic liberals and populist conservatives, instinctively sensed that something had been wrong, and – eventually – voted against political establishment.

          Democrats need to realize that socialism as a political idea is dead. The free market, when taken consequently, can be seen as a cruel political concept. However, it is the cruelty of an accountant telling us that two plus two is always four, regardless of how we feel about it. Similarly, when facing undue big business influence in politics, the solution should not be in giving more powers to the government to curb it. The solution might be in limiting the influence of the government over the economy, so that even if someone could afford to buy political influence, there would be very little to sell. In the term “free market”, the key is in the word “free”. By giving more freedom to everybody, not only to those who can hire Washington lobbyists, we can revive the economical strength of the middle class, flatten the wealth distribution, and make the whole country richer in the process. Accidentally, voters may like it too.

          The real division within our nation is between those Americans that strive for freedom and those that would trade freedom for conveniences offered by the government.

          Some Americans want to conduct their lives free from government interference. They want to put in their bodies whatever they believe is good for them. Likewise, they want to take out of their bodies whatever they decide to. They want freedom to conduct whatever business they see it fit. They want freedom to hire the best worker, regardless if he is a citizen or a foreigner. They are eager to benefits from fewer regulations, and are ready to bear consequences of risks involved.

          Some Americans are ready to give up those freedoms in exchange for comforts, be it in the form of material benefits; or in the form of satisfaction coming from a sense of moral superiority. Both of these kinds of comforts secured by the powers of the government. Among those Americans that are ready to trade freedoms for conveniences, some are liberals and some are conservatives.

          In the battles between liberals and conservatives, the freedom of an individual has been lost.

          Henryk A. Kowalczyk
          www.henrykkowalczyk.com