The other left

By lex

Posted on April 17, 2006

No – not the angry one. That left, with its childish temper tantrums, potty-language-as-a-substitute-for-rational-debate and moaning, self-indulgent navel gazing has gotten quite a bit more attention than they really deserve, and a period of reflective silence from them would be very much appreciated.

I’m talking about the classical “liberals,” the way the word used to be defined: The post-enlightenment political ideology of those who wanted to extend and protect the liberties and rights (both personal and property) of individuals against tyrannies of all sorts, whether those tyrants be national fascist regimes, or antagonistic aggregations of aggrieved interest groups demanding obeisance to their own definitions of moral propriety. People who understood that because democratic majorities could also be tyrannies, that the principal role of a properly drawn constitution was to protect individuals from the potential depredations of the state:

Classical liberals subscribe to a very basic and universal understanding of the world and the rights of all humans. Classical Liberals believe in individual, freedom, reason, justice, toleration and the rights of the individual. These principals apply to all people, of all faiths, cultures, societies, ethnicities, and histories, and it is stated that all peoples are capable of achieving liberal government and liberal societies, not just western cultures.

Those guys.

They’ve got a new manifesto out:

We value the traditions and institutions of the liberal, pluralist democracies, and we decline to make excuses for, to indulgently “understand”, reactionary regimes and movements for which democracy is a hated enemy. We hold the fundamental human rights codified in the Universal Declaration to be precisely universal. Equally, violations of these rights are to be condemned whoever is responsible for them and regardless of cultural context. The manifesto speaks of our attachment to egalitarianism in all domains.

We reject the anti-Americanism which is infecting so much left-liberal thinking. We support the right of both the Israeli and the Palestinian peoples to self-determination within the framework of a two-state solution. There are paragraphs opposing racism and identifying the resurgence of anti-Semitism; on terrorism and against the excuses made for it; on humanitarian intervention when states violate the common life of their peoples in appalling ways.

We argue that the time is long overdue to break with the tradition of left apologetics for anti-democratic forces and regimes; that there is a duty of respect for the historical truth; and that it is more than ever necessary to affirm that, within the usual constraints against incitement, people must be at liberty to criticize beliefs – including religious beliefs – that others cherish.

This left? I love these guys. These are the kind of guys you could have an argument with over a beer, and not end up with any of it on you. Or them. You could argue about means, having pretty much agreed upon ends. They want to talk policies, rather than politics.

Please: Can we have some more?

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"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me."

— John Paul Jones

"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature"

— George Bernard Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra

"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."

— Friedrich Nietzsche

"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."

— Edmund Burke

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