CalPundit: The Future of Liberalism

[La_Serpiente]

THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM....Yesterday I suggested that liberalism wasn't as dead as conservatives like to pretend it is — it just hasn't made much progress in the past couple of decades. Today I want to follow up on that with some speculation about the future of liberalism, something I first wrote about over a year ago.

My guess is that liberalism is due for a resurgence sometime in the next few years, and for the simplest of reasons: the country has been been on conservative cruise control for the past 20 years and it's time for a change. What kind of change? I don't know, but it's a sure bet that it will be something unexpected — something that will make today's debates about posting the Ten Commandments in city hall seem as archaic as fin de siecle debates about the free coinage of silver. Here's why.

There have been three big progressive waves of the 20th century and each one has been driven by a different idea. The first, roughly coinciding with Woodrow Wilson's presidency, was heavily driven by labor issues: child labor, safe working conditions, unionization, etc. It ended with the business oriented conservatism of the 20s ("the business of America is business").

The second progressive wave began with FDR's election and was mainly driven by the economic issues of the Depression. The old labor issues were still hot buttons, but labor gains were largely being consolidated during the 30s, with the Wagner Act as its last big legislative hurrah. The real issues of the New Deal related to the social safety net, and the signature legislation was Social Security, unemployment compensation, minimum wage laws, and so forth. This second wave ended after World War II when America, once again, took a breather and turned to business as the focus of day to day life ("What's good for America is good for General Motors, and vice versa").

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THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM

[Palacsinta]

1. Thanks for posting this link

Great discussion......haven't posted my two cents yet on the site, but I'm thinkin' on it.

[cryofan]

2. The new 4th wave of liberalism: citizen-owned nations

The citizens own their own nations. THey are citizen-shareholders in a jointly owned capitalist enterprise, where the citizens are partners competing fairly each other on terms to which they agree upon. Noncitizens, outsiders, are not granted ownershpip privileges. The social safety net is therefore not a matter of compassion for the poor or helpless, but instead a matter of giving to Caesar what is due Caesar. The citizens are Caesar.

High taxes rates for the rich, in this new light, is simply a matter of rents due to the owners--the citizens. It is not a matter of unfair taking, but a matter of "you struck it rich, and you should be glad that the citizens of this country built a country in which you were able to get rich." The money redistributed from the rich citizen owners to the non-rich citizen owners is not theft, but rent. And a cut of those riches is theirs by right.

In the context of citizen ownership, protectionism becomes just another business tactic. Imagine a small businessman selling tacos. Would he allow a street vendor selling tacos to set up shop on his own land to compete with him? No way! Now maybe if the street vendor was selling shoes or something, and he paid a little rent.

Likewise, the issue of immigrant workers takes on a different hue when you consider America as a jointly owned business. Imagine if land is purchased by 6 owners, who then build an office complex together. One does taxes, the other is a lawyer, one does portraits, one cuts hair, one sells insurance, and one of them does whatever he can to make a living; he is a con man. They all operate out of offices in the office complex. Suppose the con man rents out his office to an outsider who wants to cut hair. What do you think is going to happen?