What is a liberal?

Liberal has become a negative slander. A pejorative to describe a weak person who wants everything handed to them by the Government. That is the opposite of what constitutes a liberal.

Liberal is the root word of liberty and liberate. It means freedom. The true definition of a liberal is a person who holds individual freedom to be the most important political issue. The limitation of government interference in business and individual lives is the real central theme of liberalism. It was the foundation upon which the United States of America was built.

Modern liberal political issues like welfare, universal healthcare, and progressive taxation, are not liberal at all. They are socialist issues. The limitation of government in individual lives along with the increase in government programs to aid people is a true contradiction. The modern political liberals want to have their cake and eat it too. If people want to protect individual liberties, they have to be willing to limit the size and power of the federal government. If they want social programs to provide equality and assistance to everyone, then they have to give up individual liberties. There is no way to have it both ways.

The founding fathers knew this, and they knew the nature of human ambition. If you give elected officials absolute power, they will take away liberties, and become corrupt. If you guarantee liberty, some people will try to take advantage of the free market system. If everyone is equal, we will all be poor. If economic incentives exist; the smart, diligent, industrious people will rise to economic power. If the government continues to eliminate economic incentives with high taxes, interest rates, no patent protection, etc, then the smart, diligent, industrious people of the world will invest their money and ideas somewhere else.

The true future of the nation has to be in economic conservatism and social liberalism. The Republicrats will eventually take over! Something has to give, and that is an economic survival of the fittest. People unable or unwilling to compete economically will be poor. It is that simple. If we can tolerate that, the nation will long endure.