Liberalism - Fighting the Kids

Liberalism’s early underpinnings related to its distrust of authoritarian regimes. Pre-Enlightenment experiences had taught the early formulators of liberalism that governments had been the most effective means for the destruction of human rights and human liberties, and it only stood to reason in light of such circumstances that liberal leaders trumpeted the rights and ascendancy of the individual as more important than anything else.  Inevitably, its early reformers sought to retool governmental structures and laws to protect individual rights.  This was classical liberalism.But new realities began to press in on the early movement. The emerging capitalist class naturally gravitated to the new philosophical point of view because it not only provided certain protections for their financial interests but also assisted them in enjoying the newfound wealth that was rapidly making itself felt.There was only one problem. With the growing understanding of the primacy of the individual came the awareness that liberalism appeared to work best for the moneyed class and the elites, while leaving the collective lot of the lower classes largely unchanged.  This represented a clear challenge to the early prophets of liberalism’s classic phase: how can the new philosophy have merit when the majority of citizens were still trapped in poverty, illiteracy, sexism, disease and outright class control? Put another way, how could the individual encased in such circumstances possibly achieve the liberal ideal of ascendancy over all else?Clearly, the oppressive collectivism of the earlier ages was being repeated in the Industrial Revolution and post-Enlightenment era. Political and financial power had suddenly combined to suppress the working classes and those marginalized in society – hardly the kind of individual supremacy classical liberalism had envisioned.The sheer inequity caused by such new arrangements prompted many liberalist thinkers to champion social reform. Steadily, classical liberalism gave way to modern liberalism – the kind that was to become the primary means of governing over the next decades and centuries.  The poor were elevated; the illiterate were taught through public education; women slowly claimed their rights; health systems were established to heal the sick; and the wealthy classes were expected to pay their share for societal improvement.This ultimate transformation of liberalism is described in much more prolific and statistical detail in the textbooks and research papers of our universities. But the point is that modern liberalism became the foundation stone for most of the advances – social, scientific, economic, human rights – in the Western world. It remains a profound legacy from which even conservatives had to pilfer for their own legitimacy.The present political difficulties of Canada’s Liberal Party aside, this is its primary philosophy and enduring reason for existence. Yet it is occurring at the same time as the individual Canadian feels he or she requires less emphasis on the overall social and economic situation in order to concentrate on his or her own personal economic holdings. Where “rights” were once seen as a springboard for social inclusion, they are rapidly becoming accepted as individual protection against societal incursions – taxes, social values, certain threatening laws.The present Liberal Party of Canada is now reaping the whirlwind of its own success. Social and economic reformation over the period of decades has now empowered and enriched Canadians to the degree that they desire protection as individuals, to hold on to what they have gained. Conservatives, at present, have constructed a political cottage industry out of demonizing Liberals as the party of big government and big taxes and they have largely gotten away with it. And yet as the Conservative years in government are maintained, we are witnessing the incremental exclusion of groups that had been in the process of escaping their vulnerability.  Aboriginal communities feel less secure today than they did a mere decade ago, despite the government apology.  Regions of Canada that are environmentally at risk find no champion for their collective plight in Ottawa. Pay equity for women has headed in the wrong direction. The gap between rich and poor is widening again.This is the battle Michael Ignatieff and his Liberals have to presently wage, only this time there is an increasing element of fighting individuals and their isolation as opposed to the exclusive moneyed classes. The world is shifting again, as individual citizens have acquired more wealth (and the personal debt that comes with it) than ever before. The very empowered individual citizen that the Liberals envisioned and worked for is now here and he or she wants to protect their holdings – a historic irony.  The Liberals must now engage their wealthy descendents in the struggle to lift all boats within modern Canadian society.  An ominous challenge.