British Author

An Essay by Paul Weston
Questioning the Sanity of Liberals
Is it possible to be well adjusted, attractive, educated, successful, and liberal? Alternatively,is it possible to be both Politically Correct and liberal at the same time? In order to understand the peculiar contradictions of contemporary liberalism it is necessary first to understand the meaning of classical liberalism circa 1900 and the liberalism of the West in 2007.
Classical liberalism meant a belief in the deomcratic process, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, equality of opportunity (although not quite couched in such terms), the presumption of innocence, small government, the individual before the group, religious freedom, trial by jury, habeas corpus, the rights of the child, an obligation to help the genuinely disadvantaged in society and, generally speaking, a live and let live laissez -faire attitude. It was the product of many hundreds of years of gradual evolution encompassing Christianity, the reformation, the enlightenment, common law, the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke It was a cause for the good and the term liberal one to be worn with pride.
How does this square with the self confessed metropolitan liberals of today? Imagine the smooth young advertising executive, hosting a dinner party in Greenwich village or Notting Hill, suddenly announcing to his Armani-clad coterie of media and public relations friends that whilst holding himself up as a liberal, he disapproved of mass immigration, multiculturalism, state education's socialist propaganda, the European Union, same- sex marriage, homosexual adoption, atheism and feminism.
As jaws dropped around the table some embarrassed diners would make their polite excuses and fumble for the keys to their oh so green Toyota Prius, whilst others, white-faced and shaking with genuine anger, would accuse him of racial bigotry, sexual bigotry, nationalism,religious fundamentalism and xenophobia. Yet whilst these proud young members of the privileged cosseted elite may believe that they and they alone hold the moral credentials that personify the term liberal, they have to understand that all their beliefs are the antithesis fo true liberalism that they have followed a long and winding path from the classical liberalism of 1900 to that which they are today- Totalitarian and Fascistic. In short they had mutated from Classical Liberalism to Politically correct Liberalism.
to be continued....