14 November 2011
Classical Liberalism Is Reactionary Today
As reported in the October 10, 2011, New Yorker, the North Carolina businessman and conservative activist, Art Pope, identifies himself as a classical liberal. He likens himself to philosophers such as John Locke and others who during the 18th Century and earlier resisted the oppressive practices of autocratic European regimes. Under more democratic regimes, which came to power following the American and French revolutions, classical liberalism, with its reliance on the “marketplace of ideas,” i.e. whoever can afford it is allowed to buy as much influence on public opinion as he wishes, is really a reactionary philosophy.
Mr. Pope defines popular rule as “socialism and the growth of government.” In fact, resistance to majority rule and the policies of representative government is an oppressive exercise. The true definition of a liberal must designate a tendency to prefer freedom from constraints on one’s political or civic life due to non-existential factors such as wealth or heredity.
As reported in the October 10, 2011, New Yorker, the North Carolina businessman and conservative activist, Art Pope, identifies himself as a classical liberal. He likens himself to philosophers such as John Locke and others who during the 18th Century and earlier resisted the oppressive practices of autocratic European regimes. Under more democratic regimes, which came to power following the American and French revolutions, classical liberalism, with its reliance on the “marketplace of ideas,” i.e. whoever can afford it is allowed to buy as much influence on public opinion as he wishes, is really a reactionary philosophy.
Mr. Pope defines popular rule as “socialism and the growth of government.” In fact, resistance to majority rule and the policies of representative government is an oppressive exercise. The true definition of a liberal must designate a tendency to prefer freedom from constraints on one’s political or civic life due to non-existential factors such as wealth or heredity.
