Sunday, January 29, 2006

Explaining liberalism


NBR news editor Deborah Hill Cone, sometimes confused with Deborah Coddington, writes an interesting piece in today's Sunday Star Times magazine titled Exit Stage Left, Being liberal ain't what it used to be.

"Back in the 1970's when we talked about racism we all knew what that meant - it was simply that you should not judge people by the colour of their skin......Of, course now it is considered racist if you don't think Maori are especially spiritual and good at playing the guitar. Go figure."

"My friends describe me as the Michael J Fox character in Family Ties. But this is not correct. Michael J Fox's character, Alex Keaton, was the conservative son who dismayed his hippy parents. On the other hand, I am still my parent's daughter, a liberal; it's the rest of the world that has gone topsy-turvy."

"These days most people who pride themselves on being liberal are nothing of the sort. They want a bossy state with lots of laws and rules and they take a dim view of human nature, assuming most people are hopeless cases incapable of pulling themselves up by their government-supplied bootstraps."


The people she describes are statists through and through and should be challenged at every opportunity to explain just why they think they are liberals. True liberals love individual liberty. Good on Deborah for tackling a tricky topic with humour and wit.

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