LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
“Liberty means free and responsible
Rome’s legions killed Catiline in 62 B.C. But the Catiline Conspiracy was just one episode in a long stretch of Roman political polarization and vicious partisan in-fighting that resulted, in 44 B.C., in Julius Caesar being made dictator for life. That didn’t last long... Caesar was assassinated the next month. Nevertheless, Cicero was right (and also dead in 43 B.C. by order of Augustus, the next Caesar). After almost 500 years, that was the end of the world for the Roman Republic. And this is the end of the world for Classical Liberalism. Civil liberties. Free speech. Property rights. Rule of Law. Representative democracy. Free enterprise and free trade. These are the ideas of Classical Liberalism. Since 1776, the fortunate among us have been living in places where those ideas were embraced. Yes, sometimes it’s been an awkward embrace. We’ve watched Classical Liberalism get a clumsy “Joe Biden hug” from advocates for greater political interference in private life. When it comes to Classical Liberalism, “populists” want the Classical to be more pop, and “liberals” want the Liberal to dispense largess more liberally. But the core ideas persisted, and they produced excellent results. In the middle of the last century, fascism was defeated and its totalitarian sister ideology, communism, was contained by Classical Liberalism.
individuals.” Free and responsible
Classical Liberals caused “Imperialism” to be booed off the world stage – reduced to making guest appearances in the prattle of poli sci class academic phonies. Classical Liberals changed “Colonialism” from an international villainy into international tourist destinations like the British Virgin Islands. In the 1980s, the tower of human misery constructed by the communists fell on its architects. Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot joined Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo in the collapsed basement of Hell. The personal freedoms embodied in Classical Liberalism went a long way toward destroying all the other theoretical justifications for oppression such as segregation, apartheid, and theocracy. Given a chance, Classical Liberalism could even banish prejudice and bigotry. Liberty means free and responsible individuals. Free and responsible individuals have a lot to do – exercising their freedoms and individuals have a lot to do – exercising their freedoms and shouldering their responsibilities.
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May 2019
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