Liberal

The political discourse in this country suffers from the manner in which we use the terms liberal and conservative. Liberal implies someone that is tolerant, free thinking and averse to force. Conservative, meanwhile, connotes rigidity and an inherent suspicion of change and deviation from the status quo.

I believe that this is part of the reason why so many people, especially the young, are attracted to this term. If you knew nothing about the underlying philosophies and only had the labels to go on, it seems to me that liberal would be much more attractive as a firm statement of your open mindedness and rejection of stasis and ossified beliefs.

As John Stossel points out, however, the term liberal seems to be a real misnomer as it is applied to the political left. While on some high-profile issues such as gay rights and abortion the left is in fact supportive of expanded choice -- and I believe the political right would be well advised to move in the left's direction on gay rights in particular -- on so many other issues they are the forces advocating restrictions on choice and freedom.

Among them:

• School choice. Conservatives typically support vouchers and other alternatives to government run schools while liberals think that the government should be the only game in town given taxpayer support.

• Free speech. Liberals tend to be those in favor of speech codes and backers of the "Fairness Doctrine" that would limit your choice of what you can listen to on the radio.

• Free trade. If I want to trade with someone it should be no business of the government's (except in certain circumstances such as I want to hand over a nuke to North Korea). But liberals, the same people that loudly proclaim themselves members of the global community, tend to be those most in favor of restricting commerce with other countries.

• Taxation. Money is freedom. The more you have the more choices and options that are available to you. Liberals are most in favor of confiscatory tax rates that place a huge restriction on your ability to live your life as you see fit and harvest the fruits of your labor.

This is not to say that the political right is always a friend of freedom. Conservatives tend to be bigger anti-drug warriors than those on the left and favor government regulation of marriage. Liberals have also accused the Bush Administraton -- with various degrees of merit -- of shredding the Constitution and repressing freedom through legislation such as the PATRIOT Act (that an overwhelming number of Democrats voted for).

I would submit, however, that when we look at the issues that most impact us on a daily basis -- I still have yet to meet anyone who received a midnight knock at the door followed by a one-way taxpayer funded trip to Gitmo -- I would submit that it is liberals, the alleged practitioners of tolerance and live and let live -- that most restrict our freedom.

As Stossel says:

I'm a classical liberal. I believe people should have the freedom to do anything that is peaceful. That's truly liberal.

I want the word back.

Agreed.