I think there’s been a lot of well-poisoning. For example, people say “universal free healthcare paid by taxes is equivalent to stealing”.
It’s tempting to say that’s a small thing, but maybe not. Arguments from liberalism often seem to favor the rich and screw the poor. It’s not even a problem with the arguments, but with liberalism itself: those who have more than they need will enjoy compounding growth, get more influence on laws and the press, use that influence to tilt the playing field in their favor, and life will increasingly look like a game of Monopoly.
The only remedy for that is inherently illiberal: lots of progressive taxation and redistribution. So maybe it’s worth rethinking what the “bedrock” should be. Principles of individual freedom, and principles of helping the weak at the expense of the strong, should at the very least be on equal footing. FDR had the right idea calling it the New Deal.
I think there’s been a lot of well-poisoning. For example, people say “universal free healthcare paid by taxes is equivalent to stealing”.
It’s tempting to say that’s a small thing, but maybe not. Arguments from liberalism often seem to favor the rich and screw the poor. It’s not even a problem with the arguments, but with liberalism itself: those who have more than they need will enjoy compounding growth, get more influence on laws and the press, use that influence to tilt the playing field in their favor, and life will increasingly look like a game of Monopoly.
The only remedy for that is inherently illiberal: lots of progressive taxation and redistribution. So maybe it’s worth rethinking what the “bedrock” should be. Principles of individual freedom, and principles of helping the weak at the expense of the strong, should at the very least be on equal footing. FDR had the right idea calling it the New Deal.