July 8, 2008
by Clay Barham

Are you trying to decide whether you are a liberal or a conservative? Do you find a lot of inconsistency in the way other people define themselves using those terms? Sometimes you wonder because people will call themselves conservative and take the same position you do when you believe you are a liberal.  It becomes confusing, particularly when you must vote on them. 

Liberal Positions

       "The public interest is more important than individual interests. The interests of the government trump the interests of the individual.  Politics is more important than economics.  Economic planning is more important than individual choice.  Only a few select, elite among us can rule." These five positions define modern American liberalism, and the opposite in each case describes a conservative.

      These five positions should sound familiar, because these are the same policies of the fascists, the communists, the socialists, the monarchists and the American Liberals of the Democrat Party.  They believe "It Takes a Village." They believe the most important interests belong to community, not to individuals.  Irrespective of historical actions, which have demonstrated the miserable conditions those ideas caused in nations expressing them, they are certainly contrary in every respect to the founding principles and conditions found in the United States, what American conservatives support. 

Conservative Positions

      . "Legitimate individual self-interests are more important than those of the community.  Protecting the interests of the individual is the only reason for government. Individuals expressing their economic interests are more important than politics. Individual choice is the individual's reason for economic planning.  Individuals control and decide their own destiny."

      Individual freedom produces liberty and prosperity for individuals and the American nation.  Frederick Bastiat, a nineteenth century French legislator, said, "All men's impulses, when motivated by legitimate self-interest, fall into a harmonious social pattern." People's self-interests are, by their nature and for the most part, harmonious with community. If people's interests are harmonious, liberty is necessary and no one should interfere with their interests. Community should not block their interests or try to redirect them. America proved Bastiat right! They also proved Adam Smith was right, as expressed in his Wealth of Nations. 

Good or Evil?

      Do not assign a "good or evil" status to either the liberal or the conservative side.  Such a value judgment does not apply. The Old World and American liberal view is the oldest, most experienced form of governance in the world.  The New World form of governance, is barely four hundred years old, is the newest and the one with the least experience, except in America.  These are simply two views on how nations are governed.  There is no centrist or middle view.  What kind of compromise can exist between liberty and tyranny?  Individuals are either free or they are not! 

Proof

      Why would five percent of the world's population, the Americans, control twenty-five percent of the world's wealth if it were not so?  Why would eighty percent of the world's population, outside of America, living in poverty, mostly illiterate and starving, be that way if the Old World modern liberal ideals worked best? 

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New Thought

      In the past 2000 years, we have been taught that all men are equal in the sight of their Creator.  As a result, many acquired a taste and preference for making their own choices.  When a few of those who adopted those teachings arrived in New England, they established a New World where the practice of individual freedom got its start.  They proved all men could have an opportunity to make their own way, be responsible for themselves and their families, free of the Old World rules where a few elite ruled the many in servitude. 

2008 Issues

      Here are the issues Americans will be voting for or against in 2008.  First, is the public interest superior to individual interests?  Second, are the interests of government superior to the interests of individuals?  Third, are politics always superior to economics?  Fourth, is economic planning more necessary than individual choice? Fifth, are the select few, the elite among us, making the important decisions for us? The liberal position, today's Democratic Party views, suggested as the more compassionate view of how things should work, says you must vote yes on these.  Voting no on each point is the conservative position, sometimes even Republican, certainly Libertarian.

      America began on the side opposing those first five points, and for the most part, opposition to them is reflected in America's founding.  Opposition to those five positions was also the reason for the freedom and prosperity people enjoyed in America.  In 2008, however, Americans are asked to vote against their own interests, freedoms and prosperity, to accept those five propositions, as they exist in the rest of the world, the Old World.

      Americans, in 2008, will vote for those who promise change from what has proven so good, to a liberalism proven so bad.  Americans are supposed to feel ashamed of being so prosperous and happy when compared to the many in the world that are not.  What would happen if the world's impoverished masses were persuaded to follow the proven course established in America's New England settlements? What is wrong with freedom? 

Are You Sure?

      You can vote on personalities, speaking abilities, soaring rhetoric or age, even single issues you hold dear.  Regardless of what stimulates your support for one candidate over another, these five issues reign supreme over all other considerations. These issues will make the difference in how our nation is shaped in the years to come. These are the issues to consider when voting.

      To vote yes on them is to vote for a return to the Old World kinds of government consistently failing its citizens.  To vote no on them is to retain the unique American way of life that has worked so well since our Nation's founding.  These are the five issues to consider when defining a position as a liberal or conservative. It is a matter of reason and not emotions.  

Devalued or Valued?

      The five liberal positions devalue individuals, while the opposite values each, including the unborn, the young, the aged, and the infirm. This explains why conservatives side with the Right to Life people and oppose doctor-assisted suicide.  If you believe all worldly relations, laws and justice side with each individual, then you cannot help encourage life and individual success.  The community is, then, simply an accumulation of individuals relating one to another.  If you believe the community is superior, decisions of individual value are set aside for the good of community, in the view of the ruling select elite, since community has no ability to think or feel. 

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Clay Barham [send him email] has been a candidate for the California legislature and a stand-in talk show host for ABC.  He was educated in physical and behavioral sciences, with a Ph.D. in sociology.  He is the author of five books, with his latest being Foundations of Modern American Conservatism and Liberalism: The Roots of Freedom and Tyranny.  Visit his website at http://www.claysamerica.com.

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