Fallacies of the Liberal Worldview
- In History & Culture
- 11:58 AM, Feb 19, 2017
- Dharmendra Chauhan
The core philosophy of liberalism can be reduced to the concepts of liberty and equality. All humans are equal and they must have liberty to live their life as they wish. Influenced by the same philosophy, the American Declaration of Independence reads:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ——
Extending the core concepts, liberalism believes that every human is born with a good heart but often his environment—the society he lives in—turns him bad (hence death penalty must be abolished and rehabilitation instead of punishment should be preferred). Liberalism also believes that social injustice—inequality and discrimination—is the main cause why an individual commits crime (hence religion and culture—the main perpetrators of social injustice must be defeated to achieve true equality and liberty).
Liberalism had its roots in the European Age of Enlightenment. Originally it was a political movement against the hereditary privileges of royalty and nobility, in addition to the dogmas imposed by the Church. At first, the core concerns of liberalism were limited to liberty and equality but later social justice, pluralism and toleration were found essential to achieve real equality.
Looking at the foundational principles of liberalism, its universal appeal among political theories is self-evident. The question then is why it faces a widespread discontent now?
The problem of liberalism is same as that of any sound theory which attracts blind followers and transforms into a rigid ideology. A theory has a set of principles and a context in which its principles are applicable. A political, economic or social theory comes with an elegant solution to improve the lives of its followers and move them towards fair, humanistic world. When it gains a sacred status, from a mean to an end it becomes itself an end, unfortunately. An ideology has two key characteristics: Its principles are treated as dogmas which are valid universally. And it has ideals which are pursued by the believers to the extreme.
In the case of liberalism, tolerance is now a dogma instead of a policy. Not being hostile to a stranger whose background is unknown—is an example of tolerance in an appropriate context. On the other hand, continuing to be tolerant even when hostility is return repeatedly is an ideal stretched out of proportion. Instead of being an instrument for the well-being of the society, tolerance is now a goal to be pursued to become an ideal liberal. Whether a relationship evolves to be a tolerant or a hostile is a mutual responsibility shared by both sides in interpersonal, inter-community or international relations. By chasing a liberal ideal, reciprocal nature of human relation is overlooked.
When it comes to adopting a progressive social value—or discarding a regressive one—liberals usually have naive zeal to emancipate their religion, culture or country if the cause fits the liberal value system. In the real world, however, unilateral morality often compromises the competitive advantage. In other words, when cheating, stealing or killing is the norm of the time, unilaterally giving up cheating, stealing or killing may cost survival.
Some of the largest multinational businesses—and their corporate leadership—choose to (i) bribe the local authorities for illicit favours, (ii) offer kick-backs to middlemen for receiving sales orders, and (iii) relocate production to developing countries to benefit from poor labour laws and lax environmental regulations. These businesses and their leadership belong to places perceived as most ethical. At least some of them can act unilaterally with higher moral standards ignoring the corrupt practices of the rest. But they are unable to take that path.
Nuclear arms have been one of the biggest threats to peace and human life on earth following the World War II. Many international movements have been demanding elimination of nuclear arms since 1950s. Global warming is another issue which has raised serious concerns at international level. Multiple scientific bodies warn about the dire consequences if timely actions are not taken. And yet most of the liberal and progressive countries are unwilling to eliminate their nuclear arms or prohibit the industries causing the global warming.
Here the businesses and nations are merely following the law of self-preservation. It is a zero-sum game when nations, businesses, religions or cultures exist in the same space and compete for the same resources. Now the call is not for return of the "dog eat dog" world but to be cautious before jumping on the moral high horse ahead of others. However much ethical they appear, some of the progressive practices must be enforced across the board so all parties are on even ground. While shrewd politicians and business leaders understand how the real-world functions so they safeguard the interest of the people they represent. But liberals, by indiscriminately championing the liberal values, compromise the self-interest of the community they are part of.
Everything contrary to the liberal dogma is equally condemnable in the liberal view. Terrorism and intolerance are same—in principle—since both reject tolerance. Violence in attack and violence for defense are same—in principle—since both reject non-violence. Due to the "principled" stand, liberals moralize "Two wrong don't make a right" to those who fight aggression. Owing to the same "principled" stand, they can put the need for gender-neutral bathrooms to the same priority as the persecution of women in some part of the world.
Self-defense is an innate instinct in the animals; however, humans can be indoctrinated to act otherwise. Xenophobia used to refer an irrational hostility towards fearful aliens; Thanks to the liberal ideology, xenophobia today is a rational fear towards hostile aliens—which people fear to express. Voltaire once said that the perfect is the enemy of the good. In the crusade to make the society perfectly liberal, liberalism has managed to make it defenseless.
References:
- Thomas Sowell, "A Conflict of Visions"
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/12/03/how-the-worlds-biggest-companies-bribe-foreign-governments-in-11-charts/
- https://newint.org/features/2011/12/01/corruption-in-the-arms-trade/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_disarmament
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_global_warming
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