Liberalism–Been There, Done That

If you had told me ten years ago that I would be calling myself a conservative and writing a conservative blog, I’d have just laughed and thought you were more than a little nutty.

I thought I was a liberal, up until about eight years ago.  I’ve come to realize that I never was actually a liberal; I only thought I was and proudly called myself one because I wasn’t paying close enough attention.  I thought I was a liberal because I was empathetic to people who were poor, hungry, disenfranchised, and struggling for their civil rights.  I believed in and supported “noble causes” and felt noble for doing so.  It felt good to be a liberal.

It felt good to think of myself as more enlightened than the greedy corrupt money-seeking corporations that I thought made up the Republican party.  I never thought about “conservatism”, just GOP.  I mistakenly believed that people of the Republican party, people who were not liberal, were against all the things I was for.

I thought that only liberals (like me) wanted to end world hunger.

I thought that only liberals cared about the environment.

I thought only liberals wanted to help those who needed help.

I was wrong.

I realized that I also believe very strongly in self-determination.  Self-actualization is the ultimate in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and I believe in each individuals’ right to have the opportunity to achieve it.

I became aware of how much I detested the enabling of bad behavior and poor choices.

I also came to comprehend the devastation done to persons when dependency is cultivated, and self-reliance is discouraged, underappreciated, and unsung.

The words and actions of the Democratic Party began to appear more and more like they were meant to enable and foster dependency on government for all needs.  Every good and responsible parent knows that fostering dependency in one’s own children is neither benign nor benevolent.  Creating dependence and smothering self-reliance is a selfish act which serves only to hold power over others.

The only healthy way to live, and the only true path to self-actualization and happiness is through independence, self-confidence, and the belief that conquering the world is thoroughly possible.  I came to realize that liberals’ support for entitlement programs and the constant never-ceasing expansion of such did not fit my definition of ‘noble cause.’

It is far more noble and infinitely more rewarding to root for someone to win their race, after you’ve coached and taught and sweated along with them and then sent them off to run on their own.  Liberals want to celebrate their own rightousness in running the race for them.   Or more accurately, making a third party pay a second party to run the race for the first party.

There are no winners in an entitlement society where self-sufficiency, self-confidence, and self-esteem are deemed meaningless.  When individual freedom is not cherished, when personal liberty is not recognized as essential for optimal growth and development of all people, life can never be lived to the fullest, as our Creator intended.

Those who have known me for twenty years or longer are likely surprised at how I’ve “changed.”  The truth is, I haven’t changed.  The only change is my finally seeing clearly the real differences in liberalism and conservatism.  One pushes federal involvement and control over more and more aspects of our lives, believing that only government can solve problems and “help” people.  The other has an abiding faith in the spirit of the individual person, who, with nurture and support can achieve “whatever the mind can conceive,” without the need for government to get involved.

The most astonishing characteristic of liberalism and its need to “take care of” others, is the implied bigotry of believing that certain individuals and groups of people can’t achieve success on their own.  This “soft bigotry of low expectations”, as President Bush described it,  has become a hallmark of the liberal mindset.

I refute this.  I called myself a liberal for a lot of years.  I was wrong, not about my core beliefs, but about what the labels meant.

Liberty and self-reliance go hand-in-hand. Dependency on others equals relinquishment of free choice, and those who foster this and support it should be ashamed of themselves.

And just a few words to those whom I hold dear, who are women, or are gay, or are black or Hispanic or Native American or any other minority:  you are being duped.  And used.

We want to help our neighbors, our fellow Americans who are desperately poor, without hope for any real change in their lives.  But we don’t really help them by making them dependent on the rest of society.  Only by teaching personal accountability and responsibility, and how those lead to true freedom in achievement, success, and happiness, can we ever truly help someone.

The line between helping and supporting someone’s efforts, and taking over and doing it yourself is clear.  I like the way Anne Bronte said it:

“I would not send a poor girl into the world, ignorant of the snares that beset her path; nor would I watch and guard her, till, deprived of self-respect and self-reliance, she lost the power or the will to watch and guard herself.”

“Deprived of self-respect and self-reliance.”  Words to make liberals salivate.

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Tagged as: Conservatism, dependency on government, freedom, Liberalism, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, self-actualization, self-reliance