I have often used the terms "classical liberal" or "classical liberalism" to describe my political/social views, however, I have found most people do not understand what this means, or they misunderstand it. Following is an article that I believe does an excellent job of describing Classical Liberalism and the related system of Libertarianism.
-PH
Classical Liberalism, Libertarianism,
and Individualism
by Jonathan Dolhenty, Ph.D.
"I have often been asked to present a brief introduction to Classical Liberalism and how it fits into the philosophical tradition of which I consider myself to be a member, that of Classical Realism. Furthermore, some have questioned me about my use of the term "Moderate Libertarianism" to also describe my political philosophy. And finally, there have been questions raised about my use of the term "Individualism" and how that term is used in Classical Liberalism. I hope this essay satisfies, at least to some extent for now, those who have raised these matters with me.
Classical Liberals and Welfare Liberals
Classical Liberals, like myself, stress such ideas as voluntary association, incentives, and self-interest. We believe that people are bound by their own
decisions, agreements, contracts, and so on. Therefore, people may do unpleasant jobs, for instance, because they pay. They may, of course, do things as well for non-financial reasons. It is important to note that we stress that our way of doing things combines a way to get things done with a high degree of individual freedom. We assume that people recognize the rights of others and some uncontracted obligations toward others, as well. Classical Liberalism can be contrasted with Welfare or Modern Liberalism which has an opposing view and is currently the dominant political philosophy in the United States.
Welfare Liberals think that citizens should have far more welfare guarantees; indeed, some have suggested that everyone should have a guaranteed income. For example, two Yale Law School professors, Bruce Ackermann and Ann Alstott, have advocated that every U.S. citizen with a high school diploma should receive a bounty of $80,000 on his or her twenty-first birthday.
Welfare Liberals tend to favor paternalistic actions by government to protect people, and they are less worried about the ethics and practicalities of social engineering by government. They give more weight to social obligations, instead of basic rights, and when they talk about rights and obligations, they have in mind the idea that those who are fortunate have an obligation to serve the community as a whole.
To accomplish their aims, Welfare Liberals are strong proponents of public or state education. They use this as a means of shaping people for the so-called responsibilities and duties of citizenship, much of which could be rightly called "state propaganda." Classical Liberals, by the way, tend to see something sinister in governments shaping character through education. We are very suspicious about that.
So we can say in a general way that one approach, Classical Liberalism, favors incentives, the shaping of the individual through family upbringing, and participation in the ordinary institutions of a commercial society. The other side, Welfare or Modern Liberals, puts greater weight on socialization to predispose people to specific views and perspectives which favor their agenda.
Welfare Liberalism, by the way, does have a real problem with how to get individuals to do things since there is little incentive to do constructive things if you are given what you need by the government rather than having to work for it yourself. One might note that welfare recipients have little incentive to take really unpleasant jobs.
Classical Liberals emphasize the importance of individual freedoms of various kinds. We see these as moral rights. There is, however, a great deal of room for disputes about the scope and character of these rights, as in government by consent. We do argue about these rights, which can enliven any gathering of Classical Liberals. We do agree, however, that any government that does exist exists to safeguard or protect the individual rights of its citizens, that is, that is the proper role of government even though we realize that some actual governments don't do that. So we might say that this ought or should be the role of any "legitimate" government.
We also expect that if people's rights are safeguarded and protected, human interaction will generate well-being or happiness for each individual. This is achieved through voluntary market transactions, voluntary mutual aid and charity and, in very limited ways, possibly through government action. We believe that individuals are the best judges of their own interests and that government should be limited in scope and function by what citizens will consent to and by individual rights. So we tend to favor a self-limiting Democratic Republic with a written constitution that guarantees protection of individual rights against a simple majority rule.
Virtually all Classical Liberals agree with the ideal of the rule of law, rather than the rule of men. And the law should be general in character, publicly available, not retrospective, not arbitrary and capricious, but objective and based on a rational foundation. Government should act only on the basis of the law, and not on mere whim or circumstance. Furthermore, the state should be broadly neutral regarding people's concerns, such as with religion for example. While we all agree that law and order in any society is important and it is the government's job to see to this matter through protecting the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, there is some disagreement among Classical Liberals over the matters of national defense and "public goods" such as mail services and other things that people need but that are not provided or are underprovided by the free market.
Classical Liberals also emphasize private property. In fact, many of the early Classical Liberals fostered the idea that individual rights included primarily the rights to life, liberty, and property. In the U.S. Declaration of Independence the right to property was changed to the right to the pursuit of happiness. I happen to agree with this modification because, in my opinion, the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are "absolute" rights, whereas, the right to property is not absolute on its face but is derived from the former three and especially the right to the pursuit of happiness, which is a primary right while the right to property is secondary.
By the way, not all Classical Liberals agree with me on this so, as you can see, there are disputes, mostly minor fortunately, among those of us who claim to be Classical Liberals. I see this as positive because it means Classical Liberalism is not simply a dead political philosophy but a living one with many theoretical and practical problems still to be resolved. But the right to property is definitely important to us and your private property should not be interfered with by others, including the state, outside the law. The law should protect justly acquired private property, the only exception being in certain specified emergencies and only then with due process of law.
Excerpt #2
Classical Liberalism comes into play at this point. The question is: What sort of social and political arrangements are necessary for the full development of a human being, as regards his nature and his proper end? Each human being is a unique individual. Each human being is a social animal. Each human being is a moral being. Each human being has certain natural or human rights. Each human being needs to exercise these rights in order to achieve his proper end as a human being. What sort of social and political environment is necessary for a human being to become a fully developed success as a human being? That is the key question in applied political philosophy.
In answer to the above question, the Classical Liberal would argue that the proper social and political environment for a human being would be one in which his natural rights are protected, where voluntary transactions are encouraged, where individuals are considered the best judge of their own interests, where human beings are bound by their own decisions, agreements, and contracts, where human beings can grow virtuously and fulfill their potentialities as human beings, and so on. Human beings are best served by social institutions and political arrangements which are in accord with their nature as rational, free, and purposeful beings.
I believe that Classical Liberalism as a social and political theory naturally develops from and can be grounded on Classical Realistic metaphysics, particularly the metaphysics of man or philosophical anthropology as formulated by Classical Realism. Man is what he is, and Classical Liberalism provides the general social and political framework through which man can best achieve his natural end, which is his own happiness or a life well lived.
Excerpt #3
So, as a Classical Liberal and a Moderate Libertarian, I am wary of the state, although I accept that under current conditions some form of limited government appears necessary. Originally, our Founding Fathers did a pretty good job of getting it right: a declaration of natural rights, a written constitution, separation of powers, a federal system, limited regulation of public and private life, and so forth. Of course, a few mistakes were made but most of these have been rectified. Today I think that among the biggest problems we have are the unnecessary intrusion of the state into the marketplace, a growing threat by the state against our natural and civil rights, excessive taxation, and state invasion of our private lives."
Read the full article here.
