Ideology of Liberalism
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George Santayana is often quoted as having stated that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. It seems important to open a discussion about the historical rise and fall and rise and fall again of what we call "Liberalism". While surely many will disagree, Ortega y Gasset has about as good a definition of Western liberalism as a social upheaval: He writes about "the accession of the masses to complete social power" (Ortega y Gasset 11). He goes on to say what, surely, conservatives all over the world see as the threat of liberal politics: that the masses cannot direct their own personal existence. Given the assumption that the masses are eager to be rid of tyranny and tyrants, liberal politics and politicians then become extremely paternalistic. They assume that these masses yearning to be free (sorry, Emma Lazarus!) require a leadership and a government that reaches out to somehow solve their every need. As present-day American Republicans would say it: Liberalism stands for more government, and more government includes intrusion into citizens' everyday lives. If this is even half-way accurate, then one needs to make some basic assumptions about the rise and fall, the waxing and waning of Liberalism over the centuries and come up with several bases for the see-sawing of Liberalism. And to suggest that, somehow, since 1989 Liberalism is the only one of the so-called "great ideologies to remain standing- is unfortunately, wishful thinking. Liberalism, merely a
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n stand out as not having come from middle class backgrounds. In other words, one can generalize and state that the see-sawing of Liberalism in Western civilization is basically tied to thee economic conditions of the nation or areas where it rises or sinks.
One can even search in vain for truly proletarian philosophers and writers who could espouse the benefits of a morally righteous Liberalism in Western Civilization. Perhaps the only such "prol" writer who comes to mind in the U.S. is Eric Hoffer. Every writer who was either convinced or lured to the ideal of liberalism as the answer to the oppressive nature of dynastic kings or the Church, have come from wealth or a social standing well above the so-called "common man". Yet, these writers and thinkers were adamant in their rejection of past values, instead formulating standards of liberalism as the recognizable future status of republican nations.
Perhaps the idea of liberalism which Ortega y Gasset calls "that principle of political rightsa. (which) limits itself to leave room for those to live who neither think nor feel as it does" (Ortega y Gasset 76) is also what Mark P. Petracca considers "Rational choice" (Lloyd 288). "The rational choice approach to politics
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2925
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)
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