Our Founding Fathers, brilliant yet likewise flawed men, were avid followers of John Locke and his political philosophy as outlined in Two Treatises of Government. Typically referred to as the Father of Modern Liberalism, Locke introduced rational reasoning as the basis for invention of government, evolving out of the chaos and anarchy that characterized the proverbial State of Nature.
Locke postulated that establishing a governing authority was no longer the King’s God-Given right to be Monarch. As such, he replaced the traditional concept of Divine Right to govern with his theory of Consent of the Governed. In Lockean political philosophy, only the sovereign people possess rights. The government has only duties that it is obligated to fulfill for the people who first formed it. This was of course viewed as revolutionary political thought in the 17th and 18th Centuries.
In drafting The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson used several of Locke’s revolutionary hypotheses. He even expressed his Americanized version of Locke’s theory of justified revolution in his famous phrase, “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Combined with the Constitution, these two founding documents fashioned the formal charter of our fledgling government apparatus. And they did so from a Modern Liberal perspective.
This newly founded Law of the Land included these Lockean (Modern Liberal) theories: Limited government; Inalienable individual rights; Inviolability of property rights; The right of the people (as both Trustor and Beneficiary) to replace any government (as Trustee) if it violates the fiduciary trust it has been granted by their sovereignty. These innovative ideas were integral to the birth and continued longevity of our nation. But our Founding Fathers were also keenly aware of the possibility that wicked men would purposely attempt to subvert these precepts to further their own selfish desires as the nation moved forward. And as our nation matured, these fears have been justified on numerous occasions.
Modern (Classic) Liberalism was indeed the undergirding, philosophical foundation that the Founding Fathers used to build our nation. In the late Eighteenth Century, Classic Liberal political philosophy (taught by both Montesquieu and Locke) meant unwavering defense of individual freedom, consent of the governed, limited government, restraint on government through the separation of powers doctrine, justified rebellion, and steadfast defense of capitalism as the most viable economic system.
Professor William Ebenstein taught me that “underlying Montesquieu’s separation of powers doctrine was the unstated premise of a negative state, the state that was primarily a night watchman, maintaining law and order, and protecting the liberty of property and freedom of the individual.
As Liberalism, since the early 20th Century, became increasingly oriented toward the positive state, the state of broadened scope and enlarged activity, the separation of powers doctrine lost its appeal” with many wicked, selfish for power, American politicians and likewise among parasitic, entitlement citizens with limited capabilities who possess no work ethic. As such, since the beginning of the 20th Century, Classic Modern Liberalism has been totally and irretrievably transformed in a systematic fashion by so-called Progressives, to further their own selfish, clandestine, socialist interests.
Ludwig von Mises succinctly captured this total transformation in his book Liberalism in the Classical Tradition:
“Today in the United States, liberal means a set of ideas and political postulates that in every regard are the opposite of all that liberalism meant to the preceding generations. The American self-styled liberal aims at government omnipotence, is a resolute foe of free enterprise, and advocates all-around planning by the authorities. Every liberal policy is aimed at confiscating some of the assets of those who own more than the average or at restricting the rights of property owners. Today, these concepts are considered liberal and progressive.”
I argue that in contemporary America, Liberalism is now merely the new, toned down, politically correct name for Communism and Cultural Marxism. Today, Liberals are indeed Communists in every way that Karl Marx first prescribed for them to behave in The Communist Manifesto.
To reiterate, we can blame the Progressives for this transformation. Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson started and perpetuated this ugly transformation of Liberalism as it evolved into Marxist Communism in America. FDR perfected the transformation when he convinced progressives to refer to themselves as Liberals, to mask their true Communist intentions or America.
I will never support any politician or member of our government that is actively trying to transform America into a Marxist Communist society. Neither should you because Communism NEVER works……..!
When will Progressive Liberals realize the ignorance of their ways?
Probably never.
Let Freedom Ring
God Help Us
Speak the Truth
Endure the Consequences
Randy Arrington, PhD
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