@amist,
amist;145480 wrote:You clearly have no idea what real liberalism is about, and are speaking from an extremely biased, partisan position.
Liberalism
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This article discusses the ideology of liberalism. Local differences in its meaning are listed in
Liberalism worldwide. For other uses, see
Liberal.
Poster from the Canadian
Liberal Party supporting the
government ahead of the
1930 election. The Liberals governed
for nearly 70 years in the 20th century, but they suffered a rare defeat in 1930.
Liberalism (from the Latin
liberalis, "of freedom"
[1]) is the belief in the importance of
liberty and
equality.
[2][3] Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but most liberals support such fundamental ideas as
constitutions,
liberal democracy,
free and fair elections,
human rights,
free trade,
secularism, and the
market economy. These ideas are often accepted even among political groups that do not openly profess a liberal
ideological orientation. Liberalism encompasses several
intellectual trends and traditions, but the dominant variants are
classical liberalism, which became popular in the 18th century, and
social liberalism, which became popular in the 20th century.
Liberalism first became a powerful force in the
Age of Enlightenment, rejecting several foundational assumptions that dominated most earlier theories of government, such as
hereditary status,
established religion,
absolute monarchy, and the
Divine Right of Kings. Early liberal thinkers such as
John Locke, who is often regarded as the founder of liberalism as a distinct philosophical tradition, employed the concept of
natural rights and the
social contract to argue that the
rule of law should replace
absolutism in government, that rulers were subject to the
consent of the governed, and that private individuals had a fundamental right to life, liberty, and
property.
The revolutionaries in the
American Revolution and the
French Revolution used liberal philosophy to justify the violent overthrow of tyrannical rule, paving the way for the development of
modern history in tandem with
liberal history. The 19th century saw liberal governments established in nations across
Europe,
Latin America, and
North America. Liberal power increased even further in the 20th century, when liberal democracies triumphed in two world wars and survived major ideological challenges from
fascism and
communism.
Conservatism and
fundamentalism, however, remain powerful opponents of liberalism. Today, liberals are
organized politically on
all major continents. They have played a decisive role in the growth of
republics, the spread of
civil rights and
civil liberties, the establishment of the
modern welfare state, the institution of
religious toleration and
religious freedom, and the development of
globalization. They have also shown strong support for regional and international organizations, including the
European Union and the
United Nations, hoping to reduce conflict through diplomacy and
multilateral negotiations. To highlight the importance of liberalism in modern life, political scientist
Alan Wolfe claimed that "liberalism is the answer for which modernity is the question".
[4]
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