When Liberalism was liberal

http://praxeology.net/ELG-EL.htm

To the principles and precepts of Liberalism the prodigious material progress of the age was largely due. Freed from the vexatious meddling of governments, men devoted themselves to their natural task, the bettering of their condition, with the wonderful results which surround us. But it now seems that its material comfort has blinded the eyes of the present generation to the cause which made it possible. In the politics of the world, Liberalism is a declining, almost a defunct force. The condition of the Liberal party in England is indeed parlous. There is actually talk of a organizing a Liberal-Imperialist party; a combination of repugnant tendencies and theories as impossible as that of fire and water. On the other hand, there is a faction of so-called Liberals who so little understand their traditions as to make common cause with the Socialists. Only a remnant, old men for the most part, still uphold the Liberal doctrine, and when they are gone, it will have no champions.

What Godkin called liberalism in 1900 is libertarianism today. Modern liberalism is what he was warning against, although he had no idea at the time that liberalism would become so debased. Click on the link above and read the whole essay -- it puts our present situation in perspective. And although he was writing about England, he was writing about America, too.

We've drifted so far from the orginal American Liberalism that this sounds foreign to young people today. What a shame we have squandered so much of the freedom which built this country. Of course, it's not too late, and we still have a great opportunity to continue on the path laid out by men like Godkin who understood the vision of the Founders.

It's instructive for us today, who divide into factions, to remember that the battle then, and as it's presented to us today, was between domination and freedom. We can no longer afford to watch liberty chipped away by social engineering technocrats who represent the modern American version of domination. In the midst of all the bickering and political gamesmanship, it's good to remember the ideas of those freedom-fighters who came before us.