In today’s modern society, the terms
for liberalism and conservatism have flipped from their 18th and 19th century
meanings. William Dunning noticed this anomaly and wrote his findings on the
matter in his 1904 journal article, A
Century of Politics. His premise of liberalism “fundamentally…meant
democracy,” and those principles are found in what scholars today would label
as classic liberalism.[1]
Just as the meaning of liberalism
has been twisted over time, the definition of the word democracy has changed
with it. Webster’s complete dictionary of
the English language (1886) and a current Webster’s dictionary both state
that a democracy is a government by the people or where the power resides in
the people; but the older dictionary includes “a constitutional and
representative government; a republic.”[2]
It is that definition, a republic, and the principles surrounding a
constitutional republic that Dunning is referring to in his writings.
Liberalism then calls for “liberty
to all, authority to the qualified.”[3]
Thus, the elected representatives in the republic guarantee the rights of all individuals
and they govern according to strict limitations provided for them in a written “body
of law” or constitution.[4]
“The constitutional liberty of the individual” is the upmost aim of the liberal;
which often leads the liberal to attempt to restrict centralization of
government power and “majority rule in economic organization.”[5]
Classic liberals today still hold
true to these principles. They are motivated to ensure a world where individual
happiness and wellbeing can flourish through individual liberty. Limited
government is the desired system where “commerce, wealth, and trade are good,
while war and conflict are bad.”[6]
The classic liberal believes in a society where the individual, “through
reason, empirical investigation, and study” can govern themselves through virtue.[7]
The liberal Founders, like Benjamin
Franklin, believed that “only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.”[8]
The classic liberal today also understands that liberty is “a prerequisite for
virtue.”[9]
The constitutional republic created through the Constitution was meant for a
virtuous people and “virtuous activity requires having the ability, the capacity
to choose.”[10] In other words, liberty
must exist for an individual to foster virtue and thus self-govern themselves
to discover true happiness.
Liberty does exist to an extent in
today’s society; but it has been severely hampered by the opponent to
liberalism, conservatism or nationalism. Great confusion has arisen around the
misclassification of these terms and the history surrounding the establishment
of the United States government. Nevertheless, the two principles of thought are
as strong as ever and still fiercely debated in all the major academic disciplines.
Bibliography
Ashford, Nigel. ”What is
Classical Liberalism?” Learn Liberty.
Accessed on February 24, 2015. http://www.learnliberty.org/videos/what-is-classical-liberalism/.
Constitutionalism and Rights.
Edited by Bryner, Gary C. and Reynolds, Noel B. Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1987.
Dunning, William A. “A Century of Politics.” The North American Review Vol. 179,
No. 577 (Dec., 1904): 801-814.
Ottteson, James. “Liberty &
Virtue.” Learn Liberty. Accessed on
February 24, 2015. http://www.learnliberty.org/videos/liberty-virtue/.
Webster, Noah. “Webster’s
complete dictionary of the English language (1886).” Internet Archive. Accessed on February 26, 2015. https://archive.org/details/websterscomplete00webs.
[1]
William A. Dunning, “A Century of Politics,” The North American Review Vol. 179, No. 577 (Dec., 1904): 801.
[2]
Noah Webster, “Webster’s complete dictionary of the English language (1886),” Internet Archive, accessed on February
26, 2015, https://archive.org/details/websterscomplete00webs.
[3]
Dunning, “A Century of Politics,” 804.
[4]
Ibid, 805.
[5]
Ibid, 808.
[6]
Nigel Ashford, ”What is Classical Liberalism?” Learn Liberty, accessed on February 24, 2015, http://www.learnliberty.org/videos/what-is-classical-liberalism/.
[7]
Ibid.
[8]
Constitutionalism and Rights, edited
by Gary C. Bryner and Noel B. Reynolds, (Provo: Brigham Young University Press,
1987), 16.
[9]
James Ottteson, “Liberty & Virtue,” Learn
Liberty, accessed on February 24, 2015, http://www.learnliberty.org/videos/liberty-virtue/.
[10]
Ibid.
No comments:
Post a Comment