"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."
My Boog Pages
Thursday, April 20
Reengineering Liberalism
No one could mistake me for a classical liberal, but I'm no knee-jerk conservative, either. I suspect there are many others out there around the age of forty, people who are socially more liberal than our parents (Gay marriage? No problem!), but who don't believe in the large govenment, and large tax bills, spawned by the 60s and 70s. I also tend towards hawkishness in foreign policy. For example, I supported - and support - the war in Iraq.
But I have just finished reading a remarkable document by a group of self-described Leftists, a document that I can agree with without reservation. It's called the Euston Manifesto, and it lays out a return to the roots of classical Liberalism.
In particular it tosses out some alliances that are more or less accidents of history - the alignment of the western Left with Communist dictatorships, for example. It lays out an agenda of freedom and democracy, without prejudice, without apology, open to any who share its values.
The manifesto also dimsisses the argument that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. It argues against both America's past alliances with repressive governments (mostly to contain Soviet aggression), and left-leaning apologists for terrorism.
Basically there's enough here to piss off hard-core members of any and all political parties. I can't think of any better evidence for the even-handed balance of the Euston Manifesto.
