MANILA - Today, hardly any other political term is as misapprehended and misrepresented as is ``liberal.'' A case in point is the United States in the run-up to the presidential elections. For partisan reasons, the Republicans and the so-called neo-conservatives have gone on a rampage to discredit liberalism. If you listen to President George W. Bush's campaign speeches you get the impression that ``liberal'' is a four-letter word.


The absurdity of this political onslaught becomes apparent when the conservatives portray themselves as the champions of freedom, and thereby usurp the very basic ideological concept liberals invented and have fought for ever since. Some three centuries ago, liberalism started out as a set of ideas and principles that has influenced political movements and governments and eventually transformed societies and their constitutional orders more or less everywhere in the world. In historical terms, the great liberal achievements have been the spread of democracy, the establishment of the rule of law, respect for human rights and - last but not least - the expansion of the market economy. Conceptually, these principles may be termed ``intellectual property'' of the liberal movement. Only recently, these principles have been adopted by other political mainstreams - such as the conservatives and, today, even the socialists. While the ``liberalization'' of these two traditionally anti-liberal political ideologies is a positive development, it has also caused ideological confusion.


In the U.S., liberalism-bashing by the conservatives has become so powerful that some liberals have changed their identity - and prefer to be called ``libertarians.'' This said, it may be instructive to go back to the roots and discuss the substance of what constitutes a liberal agenda of government.

next »