Given that much of the cultural war we are engaged in today is a war of words, and given the undeniable power of language (pen mightier than the sword!), would it not behoove us to call a spade a spade and come up with a more accurate term for the leftist point of view than “liberal” or “progressive”, which it is neither? What might that term be? “Statist?” “Anti-traditionalist?” “Regressive?” “Neo-collectivist?” They are the most repressively regressive - slavishly intent upon repeating past mistakes, dredging up as "new" fatally flawed and failed socialist/collectivist paradigms. While they contemptuously abandon the traditions and values and proven principles that have given us the great freedom and opportunity that have made us a beacon of hope and liberty and brought millions to our shores, they insist upon doggedly dredging up and repeating the worst political/economic constructs of the past with some ethereal notion that by mere repetition they will somehow change the outcome - this time will be different!!
Being a "Conservative", on the other hand, to me means holding to the good in our past, learning from the lessons and experiences of the past, standing on the shoulders of giants, as it were. Thus are we best equipped to deal with the vagaries of the present and the uncertainties of the future.
“The socialists who have invented these follies, and who in days of distress plant them in the minds of the masses, generously confer on themselves the title of ‘forward-looking’ men, and there is a real danger that usage, that tyrant of language, will ratify both the word and the judgment it implies…To my mind and knowledge, it is the contrary that is true, and I do not know to what barbaric century we should have to return to find on this point a level of understanding comparable to that of the socialists.” - Bastiat
“Do not (the) division of labor and (the) arrangement decided upon in full liberty serve the common good? Do we, then, need a socialist, under the pretext of planning, to come and despotically destroy our voluntary arrangements, put an end to the division of labor, substitute isolated efforts for co-operative efforts, and reverse the progress of civilization? ….The more one examines these ‘forward-looking’ schools of thought, the more one is convinced that at bottom they rest on nothing but ignorance proclaiming itself fallible and demanding despotic power in the name of this infallibility.” – Bastiat
“Those who want slavery should have the grace to name it by its proper name. They must face the full meaning of that which they are advocating or condoning; the full, exact, specific meaning of collectivism, of its logical implications, of the principles upon which it is based, and of the ultimate consequences to which these principles will lead.” –Ayn Rand
