Liberalism: A Basic Primer: Leftism is Failure Incarnate pt2

"The Struggle of the Left to Rationalize its Positions is an Intolerable Sisyphean Burden"--David Mamet

Having covered the origins of leftism in the initial article in this two-part series, let’s recap. Liberalism was originally based upon liberty, & now known as Classical Liberalism. The roots of this worldview stretch back to classical paganism. In An Intellectual History of Liberalism, Pierre Manent generally describes Liberalism as “the basso continuo of modern politics, of the politics of Europe and the West for about the past three centuries.” In other words, it is our foundational societal theory. Yet, now the term liberalism has been co-opted by socialism.

Ralph Raico describes the original idea:

“Classical liberalism” is designated the ideology advocating private property, an unhampered market economy, the rule of law, constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion and of the press, and international peace based on free trade…including freedom of contract and exchange and the free disposition of one’s own labor, is given a high priority. Historically, liberalism has manifested a hostility to state action, which, it insists, should be reduced to a minimum.

Let’s examine development of modern liberalism, or socialism. How did the philosophy of liberty devolve into doctrinaire, pedestrian socialism—with its inane fixation on controlling the habits of men and extinguishing their freedoms? Because Socialists needed to update their branding, as Americans considered Marxist ideas unacceptable.