Comments on: Liberalism is Dead. http://www.nextgengop.com/2009/08/21/liberalism-is-dead/ Political Commentary and Analysis from the GOP's Future Leaders and Visionaries Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:04:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: James Kane http://www.nextgengop.com/2009/08/21/liberalism-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-13638 James Kane Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:28:12 +0000 http://www.nextgengop.com/?p=2029#comment-13638 I agree that the terms "liberal" and "liberalism" no longer hold substantive meaning in practice on this basis, however, one could argue that liberalism is dead. Nonetheless, the focus of this piece was to emphasize the deterioration of "liberal" parties over the past forty or more years into parties increasingly illiberal in ideology and practice. I am aware of the situation with respect to Zhirinovsky's misnamed party in Russia, and also well aware that the Liberal Democratic Party is the principle conservative party in contemporary Japan. However, In the United States, and arguably, the United Kingdom, liberalism is no more. The best tenets of the tradition of been absorbed into mainline rightist parties while parties of the old center-left increasingly seek to expand the state at the expense of the individual, in contradiction to the keystone tenet of liberalism as a domestic political theory. I agree that the terms “liberal” and “liberalism” no longer hold substantive meaning in practice on this basis, however, one could argue that liberalism is dead. Nonetheless, the focus of this piece was to emphasize the deterioration of “liberal” parties over the past forty or more years into parties increasingly illiberal in ideology and practice.

I am aware of the situation with respect to Zhirinovsky’s misnamed party in Russia, and also well aware that the Liberal Democratic Party is the principle conservative party in contemporary Japan. However, In the United States, and arguably, the United Kingdom, liberalism is no more. The best tenets of the tradition of been absorbed into mainline rightist parties while parties of the old center-left increasingly seek to expand the state at the expense of the individual, in contradiction to the keystone tenet of liberalism as a domestic political theory.

]]> By: Duncan http://www.nextgengop.com/2009/08/21/liberalism-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-13632 Duncan Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:00:09 +0000 http://www.nextgengop.com/?p=2029#comment-13632 I'm afraid this article suffers from a standard problem in American political discourse; the use of the terms 'liberal' and 'liberalism' has gone completely wild. In the UK 'liberal' broadly speaking means the same as it does in political theory, and both the Lib Dems and the Tories, with reasonable plausibility, claim to be 'liberal', though reach trend towards republicanism. In American 'liberalism' has something to do with being left wing. Leftist sentiment is not 'dead' in America, it is merely almost completely excluded from political discourse due to the role which money plays in your democracy. But American liberalism has little to do with liberalism in political theory, just as American Republicanism has virtually NOTHING to do with republicanism in political theory. An attempt to equate party ideologies across international boundaries based merely upon the labels they have appropriated is doomed to failure. For a perfect example of this, check out the Liberal Democrats in Russia, who are in fact a far-right ultra-nationalist outfit; anti-liberal and barely democrats. I’m afraid this article suffers from a standard problem in American political discourse; the use of the terms ‘liberal’ and ‘liberalism’ has gone completely wild. In the UK ‘liberal’ broadly speaking means the same as it does in political theory, and both the Lib Dems and the Tories, with reasonable plausibility, claim to be ‘liberal’, though reach trend towards republicanism. In American ‘liberalism’ has something to do with being left wing. Leftist sentiment is not ‘dead’ in America, it is merely almost completely excluded from political discourse due to the role which money plays in your democracy. But American liberalism has little to do with liberalism in political theory, just as American Republicanism has virtually NOTHING to do with republicanism in political theory. An attempt to equate party ideologies across international boundaries based merely upon the labels they have appropriated is doomed to failure. For a perfect example of this, check out the Liberal Democrats in Russia, who are in fact a far-right ultra-nationalist outfit; anti-liberal and barely democrats.

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