The election of 2024 will pivot on many issues, inflation, the stagnant economy, open borders, crime, but these issues illuminate a deeper and a more important one. The elephant in the room is two competing visions of the United States. While the United States is divided in myriad ways, by class, race, the two coasts vs. flyover country, the most significant, even existential, is its ideological division between most Americans who remain believers in America’s traditional ideology of liberalism—which animated the American Revolution of 1776—and a powerful elite who believe in ideals of the first Communist (Bolshevik) revolution of 1917. The 2024 election will determine which controls American politics, likely for a very long time.
The American Revolution of 1776 was a struggle against the tyranny of the British government motivated by political liberalism. Liberalism is America’s traditional political ideology. It promises liberty for the individual, respect for individual rights, and the rule of law, all have inalienable rights and individual freedoms. This concern for rights is the basis of liberalism’s individualism. Rights are designed to maximize the amount of freedom individuals have in their daily lives, which allows them to lead the best and most fulfilling life possible.
Freedom means the ability to act without fear of government intrusion, and include freedom of speech, freedom of the press, of religion, of association, and the right to hold property. Liberalism also assumes that individuals differ, sometimes fiercely, about political, economic, and social issues. But these differences, however sharp, will be resolved through established political mechanisms, that is principally by free and transparent elections, via federal, state, and local government, and the courts. James Madison famously wrote in Federalist 51, “if men were angels, no government would be necessary.” But as men are not angels, elections and the government exist to protect freedoms from threats that might emanate from within the society or outside of it. Informal tools are also important for liberalism, such as a vigorous free press for debate and the expression of opinion, freely and without censorship. […]
– Read More: warroom.org
