The Anatomy of a Liberal Part I – the Weapon of Compassion

In Conservative circles, the term ‘liberal’ gets lofted around more than funnel cakes at a county fair. Often, it’s applied to so many folks and ideas – with varying degrees of accuracy – that we lose touch with what a good old fashioned liberal really is. Therefore, we set out on the task of re-discovering these remarkable beings – a quest to provide you further information, entertainment, and a general sense of well being. Here is Part I of our series – The Anatomy of a Liberal.

“If you’re not a liberal when you’re young, you don’t have a heart…” – W. S. Churchill

If you found yourself at a campaign rally for any Democratic politician in the most recent election cycle (and ‘found yourself’ meaning you were geographically there as opposed to your discovering some deep and mystical truth about your personage) – the one thing you almost certainly experienced was a flutter in your chest as someone attempted to pull your heart strings. From prospective city councilmen to presidential hopefuls, the foundation of the modern Democrat party’s outreach to voters is compassion. Our elephant brethren stretch out their hands and offer help and hope to folks who can’t get adequate medical care, feel they have been shortchanged by someone (corporations are a favorite target) or don’t believe America cares sufficiently for them (the John Edwards campaign!). The Democrats care (rightly so by the way in many cases) and are ever willing to back their care up with $$$.

But compassion IS good. And there ARE real problems with education, health care, etc. But the simple downfall of the Democrat’s compassionate ways and policies is that they just don’t work. Over the short term, the government investment that liberals advocate to fix problems often makes a positive difference in the lives of those who are being helped. But the devil is in the big picture – when the government gives to one group it inevitably must take away from another. As Margaret Thatcher noted famously, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” This inescapable fact has been noted by President Obama when he’s mentioned that to pay for his health care reforms, taxes will have to be raised on wealthy folks.

It’s an odd quirk of history that we’ve essentially been having the same economic debate in the western world over and over since the 1930s. And it all started with one man – John Maynard Keynes. One day Keynes had an idea – that if a government spent more money than it actually had it could create economic prosperity. This idea was celebrated and has become known as Keynesian Economics. *Side note – on a recent visit home to my family’s farm my dad told me story about a local man who is remembered for bringing a noxious weed into the valley – it struck me that the unfortunate gentleman was a bit like Keynes.* Keynes provided the philosophical excuse for liberals in Britain and America to go nuts. And so they did.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, liberals FDR and Atlee took power on either side of the pond. While there’s been great debate about the short term effects that Roosevelt’s massive spending had in the US, there have been fewer questions as to the cost of compassion in Britain. The British economy has never been the same. Granted, the World Wars had such massive influence on economic activity that it would be easy for the lessons of the 30s and 40s to be clouded. Let me throw out some other names – Lyndon Johnson and the “great society”, Jimmy Carter. I’m no economist, but when you compare the results of liberal policies enacted out of compassion for people to the results of conservative economic policies under Reagan and others – there’s a significant difference.

But instead of capitalizing on the consistent and profound failures of these efforts, modern Conservatives have come to be viewed by many as a bunch of rich dudes palling around at the country club in tweed. Even worse, we have at times tried to outdo the Democrats on their own terms – such as McCain’s plan to buy everyone’s mortage in ’08 in the name of compassion (see the cardinal rule of political engagement #1 – Never try to out-promise a Democrat. You will lose.) Conservatives have the weight of history on their side. The great challenge going forward for Conservatives is to show that an economic system that can provide prosperity for all is far more compassionate than one that promises everything for some and delivers nothing for anyone.

Goose Nissley – GooseRadio