Are You A Liberal?

Our conversation the other day about the meaning and essence of liberalism was interesting. I tend to think, though, that for many people today being a liberal is less about holding to certain principles than it is about holding certain political positions. That is to say, what makes one a liberal is not that one believes in equality, or the priority of the individual, or the instrumental nature of the state. What makes one a liberal is support for gun control, universal health care, affirmative action, etc. Here, for example, is a list of things liberals believe, compiled by Dennis Prager:

1. Standards for admissions to universities, fire departments, etc. should be lowered for people of color.
2. Bilingual education for children of immigrants, rather than immersion in English, is good for them and for America.
3. Murderers should never be put to death.
4. During the Cold War, America should have adopted a nuclear arms freeze.
5. Colleges should not allow ROTC programs.
6. It was wrong to wage war against Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War.
7. Poor parents should not be allowed to have vouchers to send their children to private schools.
8. It is good that trial lawyers and teachers unions are the two biggest contributors to the Democratic Party.
9. Marriage should be redefined from male-female to any two people.
10. A married couple should not have more of a right to adopt a child than two men or two women.
11. The Boy Scouts should not be allowed to use parks or any other public places and should be prohibited from using churches and synagogues for their meetings.
12. The present high tax rates are good.
13. Speech codes on college campuses are good and American values are bad.
14. The Israelis and Palestinians are morally equivalent.
15. The United Nations is a moral force for good in the world, and therefore America should be subservient to it and such international institutions as a world court.
16. It is good that colleges have dropped hundreds of men’s sports teams in order to meet gender-based quotas.
17. No abortions can be labeled immoral.
18. Restaurants should be prohibited by law from allowing customers to choose between a smoking and a non-smoking section.
19. High schools should make condoms available to students and teach them how to use them.
20. Racial profiling for terrorists is wrong — a white American grandmother should as likely be searched as a Saudi young male.
21. Racism and poverty — not a lack of fathers and a crisis of values — are the primary causes of violent crime in the inner city.
22. It is wrong and unconstitutional for students to be told, “God bless you” at their graduation.
23. No culture is morally superior to any other.

No doubt if one was talking about first principles, one could give a “conservative” argument in favor of many of these positions, or a “liberal” argument against them. But I suspect that many people would view such arguments with a kind of incredulity. You may start with Christ, or Kant, or Adam Smith, but if you end up subscribing to most of the views given above or their equivalents, then you’re a liberal.