“I was never called a liberal, even a half century ago when I was in college. Most who know me think of me as a conservative, but I think of my political philosophy as limited government, protection of the safety of the citizenry from external threats and internal disorder, equal opportunity, and  individual freedom, which entails rights as well as responsibilities. 

Growing up in the Northeast and going to college in New England, I disagreed, in those earlier years, with many of my classmates, who identified as “liberals “, most of the time. But, I respected their core beliefs…freedom of the individual from being told what to do and say by the “State”; compassion; tolerance for others who believe differently or look differently than oneself; an absolutely free and vigilant press (media) as a watchdog on government power.  Open debate and diversity of views was expected and normal on college campuses, and our primary differences were more related to how to best achieve goals, rather than the end goals. Those calling themselves Liberal, for example, believed in bigger government to solve problems and those called Conservative believed more in the private sector. But each side believed, although imperfect, we were part of the greatest country and society in the world, and our job was to improve upon it, not tear it down. We all listened when JFK called us to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”. 

“Liberals” believed the government should not be involved in our personal lives, about sex or values, nor “spewing from the pulpit” what we could say or do (much less, mandating values). They would be aghast at the government spying on law abiding citizens, especially in their own homes. They beat the drum of Equality and Unity, rather than discrimination (more than I did, to my regret). 

But, today, we have the Party that used to be called, “Liberal”, and those in academia calling for discrimination and segregation, classifying us by the color of our skin or our heritage or our “sexual preferences”…even colleges and universities calling for segregation of students in certain facilities or clubs or even some graduations…even a separate, graduation separated by skin color! This done under the new dictate that we emphasize and be grouped by our differences under the dictate of diversity rather than minimize those and maximize our sameness under the goal of unity. The Liberals of my generation (and Dr. Martin Luther King) did not believe that we should identify and group ourselves by the color of our skin or by our sexual views. And, when did “Yes we can” become “No you can’t”, as the party that was of liberalism now preaches that classes of people cannot succeed nor rise, but instead need the government to “take care of them” because they are victims who cannot succeed themselves? To the contrary, the most powerful accelerant of success is belief, and the powerful support of “yes you can”

And as for open debate, and challenging each other’s different views? That’s quickly disappearing in the “cancel culture” of today. If someone expresses a view not in the narrative of the Ruling Class and their arms in the media (TV and Social), that view is to be censored and that person destroyed…fired from his or her job, not allowed on college campuses, shouted and harassed out of public places. Censorship was a big concern for liberals “in the day”. But now the Ruling Class, especially Democrats, fully endorse censorship of views with which they disagree, and “liberal” universities view “correct” censorship as orthodoxy.

The upper middle class gained strength to a significant extent through labor unions and good paying manufacturing (and other) jobs. These unions were backed more by the Democrat party and so-called liberals. But the Democrat party sold out those union workers long ago, to globalism, while maintaining sway through an unholy alliance with union leaders (who are almost as wealthy as political leaders). The media likes to blame that “hollowing out” of the middle class on shifts to the non-union southern states, but, manufacturing in the whole country has declined from over 50% of the economy to a little over 12% taking a lot of good paying jobs with it. Who is calling for “free trade” and globalism, supported NAFTA and shifting those jobs out of this country to countries without the health, safety and worker protections that we have? Who wants a free flow of foreign workers lowering the wages of those middle-class jobs? Don’t look now, but it’s the Democrat party (and the Ruling Class part of the Republican party).

The idea of the government mandating and issuing edicts over society to control our daily lives for a year or more, as the solution to a medical crisis, and setting up tracing of one’s daily actions and all personal contacts, and giving the central government people’s medical information, would have been anathema to the Liberals I knew. They knew that the twin tools of tyrants are fear and promised safety…and fiercely opposed big government in our private lives.

The Liberals with whom I grew up hated discrimination, but wanted the improvement to be equality and unity, with the focus on our “common bonds”, not having the government, the media and academia dividing us into groups by our differences. Those Liberals did not want government in our private lives. They would be appalled at the city of LA using drones to look into people’s yards and homes to see if they had more guests than the “State” ordered. They did not want the government to track and trace our movements and with whom we associated. The Liberals whom I knew (and still know) would have cringed at media censorship (TV and Social Media) …they would even oppose censorship of views with which they disagreed. They would oppose the “cancel culture” of aiming to destroy any one or any business which didn’t “heel” to the “correct” point of view and the Ruling Class narrative. They would abhor the trend of Government leaders in public service to use that service to become very wealthy while controlling, with rhetoric and pandering, rather than serving with paths to improved education and opportunity, the working class. 

I wonder if you Liberals are still out there, and if you see that you don’t have a Liberal party anymore. The Democrat party has left you and your values. The Republican party is not much better, but, oddly, they have been pulled closer to your views by the Democrat party leaving you. My preference, actually, is for more “outsiders”, leaders who are not career politicians and in the “Club”, the Ruling Class. Calling all Liberals, I actually hope you’re still out there.