From: J. Hughes (jhughes@changesurfer.com)
Date: Thu Oct 03 2002 - 20:11:21 MDT
Hal argues that liberals (by which I take it he includes me, although
I've always had disdain for American 'liberalism') are collectivists,
and that we need to give up collectivism for individualism. A familiar
theme.
He cites the family debate as an example. The reason liberals and the
left were critical of "the family" was precisely because it was a form
of patriarchal authoritarianism which did not respect the rights of
women and children. Outside of libertopias, the only way to protect
individual rights is by creating strong democratic governments, prepared
to intervene when rights are threatened. So yes, liberals and left
argued for sex education because we felt that individual empowerment
with sexual knowledge was more important than the prerogatives of
parents to keep kids ignorant. And we fought (and continue to fight) for
the legalization of divorce because we think individuals should have the
right to escape from bad marriages. So in the case of the family,
conservatives were on the side of authoritarianism, and liberals and the
left were on the side of collectively-guaranteed individualism. But
there was in fact a move in the 1980s by prominent members of the
American left and labor movement to redefine the family debate in terms
of a progressive pro-famly agenda: health care, family leave and shorter
work weeks, rights of gay parents, etc. (When I was webmaster for the
Democratic Socialists of America I put up a "Radical Parenting" page as
a part of the effort). But we lost that fight.
In the letter I argue that human dignity requires control of ones own
body, and the same principle applies - control of our bodies requires
strong, democratic governments prepared to defend those rights. We need
defense from violence and crime, for instance. And I would argue that we
need a social democratic state, providing education, health care and
other social goods, in order to fully empower people to control their
own bodies and lives.
So the simple-minded dichotomy that leftists and liberals are
collectivists (except when they accidentally end up defending individual
rights) and conservatives are individualists (except when they
accidentally support authoritarianism) doesn't really work for me. At
least argue that libertarianism is beyond the traditional left and
right.
J. Hughes
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