The Whole Liberal? What does that even mean?
There’s a spectrum of socio-political positions on every issue. The “Whole Liberal” is someone who angles to be solidly in the liberal camp on all of them. Alas, it’s a rare bird.
I’ve rebranded my Medium.com home base as “The Whole Liberal.” Why? Well, to better orient this column for both readers and myself as to content, intent and purpose. I’m not sure it invites more readers… it may spook away as many potential readers and subscribers as it gains. But I think it’s an important concept, so why not bring it front and center? It does pretty much apply to every essay I write.
If you’ve read many of my essays, you have noted that I often get around to discussing conservatives. As in how awful they actually are. Wait, wait, wait. There’s a spectrum to almost everything in the Universe… and it certainly applies to conservatives, as well. It is mostly true that most conservatives are only slightly awful. But, so long as they are conservative, they are in league with the Ideology of Selfishness, and therefore selfish, and therefore at least on the start of the road that leads directly to serious awfulness.
We have to get our bearings here. What is even meant by “conservative” and “liberal?” These are two of the most important questions we should be asking today (or any day). If only there were great answers. Actually, there are, and they are plain as day. But you’ll still have a hard time finding them. There are hints galore, but also myriad mis-directions from the standard sources: the dictionary, the encyclopedia, Wikipedia, pundits, politicians, theorists, philosophers, theologians, professors, even historians. Most of these would-be experts are blinkered by foundational beliefs in untruths, false assumptions that are regarded as gospel, micro-focus (not seeing the forest for the trees), contemporary bias (failing to account for longer historical evidence), wanting/needing to appear non-partisan and/or personal axe-grinding.
Certainly the concepts and positioning of “conservative” and “liberal” have changed to some degree over the centuries. But not nearly as much as is often assumed. In most ways, they haven’t changed at all. The terms, themselves, are somewhat new to political discourse… but the American Founding Fathers would have understood them quite easily, and the very root of each word goes back to ancient Latin and provides the best of all signposts as to the eternal meaning of each socio-political impulse.
Conservative comes from the Latin servare — which means “to keep, preserve.” Or, more plainly for our purposes: “conserve.”
Liberal comes from the Latin liberalis — which means “suitable for a free man.” In a word, “liberty.”
The dictionary adds some relevant information:
The conservative is “disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones.” The conservative is “averse to change.”
The liberal is “favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.” The liberal is “favorable to or in accord with the concepts of maximum individual freedom, free from prejudice or bigotry, open-minded or tolerant.” The liberal is “favoring or permitting freedom of action, especially with respect to matters of personal belief or expression.”
Just from these roots and definitions, we could put together an historically accurate mantra portraying these two forces: Conservatives conserve. Liberals liberate.
But we still need more information to home in on an interpretation of these two terms, eternally conflicting, which applies in all cases, now and in the past. And here is where most “experts” are of no help; in fact they are a large part of the confusion and problem. You’ll hear such headstrong claims as, “The modern conservative movement started in the late 1950s!” 1,950 BCE would be closer to the mark. Or how about their twisting of history in somehow claiming that “classical liberal” equals modern conservative? Liberal intellectuals are hardly better, having seemingly found a way to mostly forget every crime ever committed by waves of conservatives. Have you noticed that though they will write entire books dancing around the subjects, you never hear them, on either side, even asking the questions, much less answering them: “What do conservatives conserve? What do liberals liberate?”
A clear answer to both questions is critical to understanding these perennially conflicting ideologies. And it is not hard to find. It’s crystal clear in the historical record. As well as pretty much everything going on in current events.
What do conservatives conserve? Conservatives “conserve” only one thing — consistently through the ages, right up to this very minute. They conserve their own advantage, privilege and power. That’s it. Everything else is subterfuge. Conservatism is the Ideology of Selfishness. Conservatives really, truly believe in nothing else. Not nation. Not religion. Not tradition. Not democracy. Heaven knows not equality. Not fairness. Not justice for all. Not small government, or the free market, or individual autonomy, or “family values.” Listen to them bray about “liberty!” as if it is a sacrosanct, unalienable principle. No, that would be the liberal’s position. Conservatives mean their liberty… not yours! They will deny or take away your freedom, your rights, your autonomy without the slightest compunction. Conservatives are the world’s chronic oppressors. So sorry if that jolts your worldview, but that’s just a fact of history.
Conservatives killed Socrates. Conservatives killed Jesus. Conservatives killed Bruno. Conservatives killed Joan. Conservatives were behind the Crusades, and the Inquisition. Conservatives started World War I and World War II. American conservatives tried hard to keep the United States out of both of those wars… that would have worked out nicely… for those other conservatives. Conservatives tried — and are still trying — to stifle science. Conservatives tried — and are still trying —to stamp out democracy. In likely the greatest crime ever committed by humanity, conservatives have conspired to sabotage every effort to address, or at least mitigate, the greatest calamity our species has ever faced: Global Warming. Every living thing on Earth will pay —many the ultimate price — for this orgy of conservative selfishness.
Meanwhile, in America… our original conservatives were hanging witches, importing African slaves, murdering Indians, ripping down forests and sending animal species into oblivion. Then came the Tories, vehemently opposing the notion of equality, as well as democracy, who were viciously against the creation of this nation; they spilled patriot blood. Then came the Confederates, the Ku Klux Klan, the white supremacists, the wicked-greedy industrialists, the isolationists before WWI and WWII, the commie witch-hunters, the John Birch Society, the CorpCons, the NeoCons, a “secret war” in Central America, the facts-challenged, conspiracy-dopey conservative media juggernaut, two of America’s longest wars waged on the wings of lies, the Tea Party, Donald Trump, the Big Election Lie and America’s first attempted coup. Those are just some of the main headliners of just American history… there have been hundreds of conservative sideshows all the while.
ALL of the villains of history have been conservatives conserving! All of the tyrants of history have been conservatives conserving. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Castro, — all rank conservatives conserving one thing: their own advantage, privilege and power, even as they were smashing “tradition” and “family values” and “prudence” and “common sense” and any semblance of virtue while conserving one of humanity’s oldest traditions: “Might Makes Right!”
So that’s conservatives. It’s not a pretty picture.
What about liberals? What do they “liberate?” Well, anything and everything that conservatives are oppressing. The list keeps expanding because conservatives are so determined to make the world a hell for pretty much every living thing on Earth.
Why doesn’t everyone know and understand this basic duality of how human cultures operate?
Three reasons: 1) conservatives have been persistent in making sure that their horrendous historical record gets rewritten, swept under the rug, denied, debunked or downplayed (as is now going on quite openly and brazenly with American conservatives); 2) liberals, in their eagerness to just get along, have allowed this to happen; 3) people, Americans in particular, have the attention span of fruit flies.
But here’s the rub. There are so many issues, and on each of them every individual has a choice to make. What do I believe? Where do I stand? What am I willing to do? Should I just ignore it altogether? Should I just follow my crowd?
In such ideological, philosophical, personal queries, the conservative impulse has a huge advantage. On every issue, the Ideology of Selfishness beckons.
It is so easy to be a conservative. Just believe and behave in whatever way works best in your favor. As a conservative, you don’t care about anyone or anything else. You probably don’t even want to know, study or understand anyone or anything else. Ignorance is bliss. You are certainly not going out of your way to discover anything; you’re happy as a clam to accept any information that your circle drops on you which support your selfishness. The only thing you are fixated on is your own advantage, privilege and power… whatever that means in your small world.
There are legions more “whole” conservatives than there are “whole” liberals. Once you slip or fall into the comfy cocoon of selfishness on one issue, it’s easiest to just stay in there — especially when your entire social circle is in there with you, all confirming each other’s beliefs. A majority of conservatives are conservative pretty much across the board. Maybe there are one or two issues of exception, but not many.
As with many of the aspects of this political-philosophical-societal spectrum, there is no symmetry in regards to “purity” of stance on the other side. “Liberals” do not mirror this conservative condition. The vast majority of “liberals” are not liberal across the board. They are actually conservatives on some issues, perhaps even most issues, possibly rank conservatives. For instance, there are union members who are Republicans (which party has always despised unions). There are committed environmentalists who are abject misogynists. There are Black Lives Matter protestors who are homophobes and transphobes. Conversely, there are LGBTQ activists who are utter racists. There are feminists who are absolutely at war with the Trans community. There are Democrat-voting Latinos who support mandatory prayer in school. There are “Vegans for the Animals” who, like conservatives, don’t exhibit much compassion for human misery. There are liberal religionists — Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. — who harbor conservative suspicion or disdain for other religions, atheists and other non-conforming individuals and groups. There are ostensibly “liberal” billionaires who, very conservatively, would rather stay near the top of that list than devote that wealth to good causes.
While being conservative is as easy as falling off a log, being liberal is hard. Being liberal on one issue is hard enough. Being liberal on multiple issues is harder times the number of issues involved. Being liberal on all issues is the biggest challenge of all. Few are willing to accept it.
“Liberals” working only for themselves or their own small circle are the weakest of all liberals. They are very close to being conservatives. They are usually seeking equal rights, not advantage, privilege and power like conservatives, but in being focused exclusively on their own condition, they are on the precipice of selfishness.
The real liberal impulse requires embracing equal rights FOR ALL! The “Whole Liberal” is not only interested in liberating themselves, they are interested in liberating EVERYONE… and increasingly EVERYTHING… from conservative bigotry, oppression and violence. This includes not just every member of the human tribe, but animals, forests, seas, rivers, mountains, anything that conservatives are unjustly, often immorally, threatening.
Some years ago I began to think about these different ways of being liberal on one issue, conservative on another. I grew up in a conservative family, in a conservative town, in a conservative state. Most of my family is still very much conservative. So I know these folks. I was one of them. They will never be my enemy, and I condemn hate or violence toward them. From this background combined with new perspective I have witnessed how such good-hearted, well-meaning, friendly, intelligent people can easily get pulled into that warm cocoon of selfishness, even as they don’t or won’t or can’t see it for what it actually is. Inside that cocoon (which they consciously or unconsciously recognize is the conformist, “easy thing to do”), it is important for conservatives to convince themselves that they are on the good side, the religious side, the patriotic side, the “common sense” side. This is part of why they crave a media that will refrain from confronting them with inconvenient facts, including the actual history of this ideology, but simply tell them what they want to hear.
The “other” is the problem is the primary lesson they have been doled — for generations — and are only too happy to imbibe. They accept this concept as fundamental truth and the most basic common sense. Most have little notion, and would reject the suggestion, that this all-encompassing mantra has been carefully crafted by a disparate but surprisingly monolithic social-political-economic-religious conservative elite that has had centuries of practice bamboozling the rabble.
This perennial “the ‘other’ is the problem” slogan is often the precise opposite of truth. Never more wrong when applied to… liberals.
Every stitch of progress humanity has ever made toward social or moral progress has been achieved by “liberals” (liberating) while being opposed by “conservatives” (conserving). This overarching fact is described in every history book, and inscribed within every current event… yet somehow eludes public underscoring and understanding! This, for sure, is one of conservatism’s greatest magic tricks… making the blatantly obvious just disappear! As with all magic tricks, it takes a willingly gullible audience for it to work.
I began in earnest the transition from conservative to liberal in my college days, when and where I was exposed to a wider social circle, alternative philosophies, and began learning things I had never been taught in school or family or culture. It wasn’t just me evolving back then. The very times were a changing! The milieu of the late 1960s and early ’70s conjured a swell of questioning, idealism, self-examination and “counter-culture.” ALL of my favorite writers and artists and musicians were extolling a different way of being in the world. Their vision leaned into the virtues: compassion, peace, love, exploration of other religious philosophies, alt-spirituality (particularly the rise of “spiritual not religious” attitudes), environmentalism, sustainability, non-materialism, diversity, multi-culturalism, liberation of the individual, acceptance — even encouragement — of non-conformity. All of it was exhilarating, and troubling, for me. My mind, and heart, were cracking open.
There is a reason the conservative elite has always hated public education: it is a pathway to this exact kind of transformation. Truth will set you free, while indoctrinated, conformist people are far easier to control. Subsequent travel around the world exposed me to radically varied cultures and people very different but who were kind and gentle and really just wanted to live a peaceful, happy life. My former provincial identity (Texan, American, Anglo-Saxon, Christian) expanded toward thinking of myself as a citizen of the world… and, eventually, of the cosmos. At the same time as I was moving away from the religion I grew up with, I was feeling a spiritual pull from nature itself. And science, especially biology and astronomy, was putting forth information that refuted old beliefs, while conversely offering a window into a reality of dazzling oneness in diversity. As exhilarating as these new discoveries were to me, the “growth” or “evolution” was also painful. I realized that much of what I had been taught was not just wrong, but actually kind of evil. This was difficult, depressing and humbling. I knew my parents weren’t evil, but by conforming without real thought to their culture, they were unwittingly supporting oppression of various types. And so had I, just in blindly buying into hoary beliefs, customs, prejudices and completely unexamined white, male advantages and privileges. The very things that conservatism conserves.
Extricating myself from conservative indoctrination was the farthest thing from easy. A deep-dive into self examination was required. And that brought some shocking revelations. In reality, I was not the “good person” I always presumed myself to be. Though not at all intentionally, I was part and parcel of much of the “dominant culture” that runs roughshod over other people, other life forms, and other things that are beautiful and good. This realization can feel so bad it sends one scurrying back into the cocoon for respite, never to again be broached. But in my pain and loss of my very identity, I knew just enough to recognize that this was the dark night of the soul that can lead into profound transformation for the very positive. So I kept searching for that breakthrough. Helped along by some of the greatest minds of human history, I eventually emerged from what I now clearly recognize as a state of ignorance and selfishness. I had escaped Plato’s Cave.
Continuing to probe and embrace the “oneness in diversity” evident throughout the Universe, and confirmed by science, I have attempted to discern and disconnect from conservative oppression… in all its many guises. My goal is to be a “Whole Liberal,” a liberal on every issue, actively opposing conservative intransigence and oppression wherever it is found. And that’s basically everywhere. To be a liberal is to be open-minded, compassionate, discerning, fair, promoting liberty, equality of personhood, justice for all, solutions that work for all, the General Welfare. The liberal abhors oppression. My personal mantra is now, “I am on the side of the oppressed, whoever, whatever, whether person, animal, tree or stone.” That concept keeps me alert to how I might slip into inadvertent, unwitting, complicity with the Ideology of Selfishness.
The most profound transition from conservative to liberal was one of the most recent. My diet. I had opted out of hunting and fishing much earlier but, the habit, the addiction, the fundamental and ubiquitous social importance and imperative of consuming animals and their byproducts made going full Vegan a daunting challenge. Even as my brain and higher spiritual self lectured this was the way, my emotions and taste buds resisted. I tried to figure a way out of it. Maybe it’s unhealthful. Nope, quite the opposite when properly approached. Maybe it’s too difficult. Nope, easier than ever before in human history. Maybe it makes no difference; I’m just a single person… what good can I do? Nope, the average Vegan directly saves over 360 animals lives per year, some 400,000 gallons of water, over 10,000 square feet of forest and 3,000 trees, over two tons of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gasses, and over 14,000 pounds of grain that could go to feed starving people. All while lessening the chances of contracting a deadly disease, and actually adding years to their lives compared to animal product consumers. AND making human society more humane and compassionate. It doesn’t get much cooler than that.
After my research I was staring at the fact that there is nothing else any single person can do to better promote their own health as well as that of the environment than to transition to a balanced, complete plant-based diet. It’s really a no-brainer. Much of the human population is going to have to go this way, or we aren’t going to have a livable world for much longer. Above and beyond my own health or even that of the planet, I believe it’s immoral to kill something when you don’t have to. And most of us in the modern world certainly don’t have to be killing and eating animals any longer. Most of us live nearby to markets stocked with all manner of plant-based superfoods. There is really no excuse any longer. I realized that over ten years ago, and the situation has only become more inexcusable since.
Who clings for all they are worth to debilitating habits and customs? The conservative! It is only the conservative, averse to change, mired in traditions (that empower them), ever acting selfishly, who mindlessly, heedlessly, selfishly “conserves” customs and their “way of life” that are no longer serving humanity or the wider world. I recognized that to continue consuming animal products I would be a rank conservative in this most-important regard: what is going in my mouth at every meal. We do reveal our true character, our real moral bearing, with every decision, certainly including what we eat. We are what we eat. I was no longer going to conform to a “tradition” which involved “conserving” my own advantage, privilege and power by oppressing other sentient beings.
So I opted out of the animal-abuse industries altogether. My fears of how difficult it might be have been unfounded. It’s sometimes a challenge, but I have rejiggered it as a fun, and certainly worthy, challenge. Meanwhile, I am healthier than I have ever been in my life. An unexpected boon is that food selection and preparation have become a widely expanded adventure and joy. It’s the best single decision I ever made in my life. You couldn’t pay me a million dollars to go back. I look back on my old Standard American Diet (with the very appropriate acronym, SAD), and think, “Limited, Boring, Unhealthful, Immoral and Bleaah.” Yes, I sometimes miss the “taste” of this or that… but then I think of the cost of that brief “taste” — an animal’s very life — and suddenly that “taste” isn’t so tasty anymore. That fatty, salty and/or sugary sweet “comfort food” is the taste of abuse, slavery, terror, violence, death. Actually, the taste buds rule most people. They used to rule me. But not anymore. My mind and heart now select what I consume. My taste buds get what is healthy. And, after a short phase of sulking, they now love it.
The transition to Veganism catalyzed for me a wider exploration of virtue. Properly applied, Veganism is far more than a diet; it is a worldview that demands moral accountability for everything we do, which can be summarized by the phrase, “Do the least harm.” This fit well with my emerging spirituality which centers on an ever expanding circle of love. The concept being, the more you love, the deeper the spirituality. The end goal is to love everything, the whole Universe.
Now, there is the matter of push-back by some who claim that the extreme of the left-wing is as bad as the right-wing. This claim has never made real sense. How are the totalitarian regimes of the “right-wing” Nazis and the “left-wing” Soviets really different? Well, one side, the communist, is “godless,” while the other, the fascist, at least tolerates religion; they are not “godless.” One, the communists, want the government to own and control all “means of production,” while the fascists are open to “capitalism” (usually predatory) operating within their rigid system. So let’s assume that these stark demarcations are solid (which they are actually certainly not)… and that these “flavors” of totalitarian regimes are complete opposites in these regards. But what about in terms of what is really important: oppression, lack of individual rights, pugnacity, violence, lack of respect for life, lack of care and concern for anyone or anything outside the ruling elite? On these, most crucial, life and death categories, fascists and communists, theocrats, African or South American tinhorn dictators, barbarian hordes, Roman caesars, Egyptian pharaohs, kings of the Middle Ages, oppressors of all types through history, they are all peas in a pod. These systems are all selfish to the core… apex predators within the Ideology of Selfishness, which as you travel along its spectrum outward becomes more and more sinister! If some of these systems actually had some kernel of “liberating” idea at their beginning, at some point they have U-turned to become wholly conservative. Liberals liberate; they do not oppress. Conservatives? Oppression is part of their DNA.
What, then, would be the “extreme” of liberalism? Or just “Whole” liberalism?
Think about it. As you move outward on the spectrum, how does the liberal’s open-mindedness, freedom from prejudice and bigotry, tolerance, compassion, fairness, sense of equality of personhood, and desire for peace and harmony and the General Welfare abruptly turn into the opposite of these characteristics? It cannot. That’s not how spectra work. On the light spectrum, red doesn’t somehow turn into blue as the frequency diminishes, or vice-versa, blue increasing in frequency to become red. This notion is absurd. The “extremist” liberal is releasing more and more of selfishness, engaging more and more selflessness. They are becoming more saintly! Those on the “left” (by virtue of what again?) who engage in beliefs or behaviors that refute the signal virtues of liberalism have ceased being liberal. They have renounced their creed, turned on a dime and leapt backward into the Ideology of Selfishness. They have become the oppressor. They have morphed, transformer-like, into conservatives. Ever seeking liberty, equality and justice, oppression is antithetical to liberals. Violence is to be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Seeking advantage, privilege and power, oppression and violence are part of the plan for conservatives!
I hold no pretense to being any kind of saint. But I do continue to look for ways to be a “whole liberal.” I realize that the journey I have been on has allowed me to literally rewire my brain. Previously it was rather haphazardly, and as mentioned, somewhat counter-productively, even harmfully, wired by culture. The culture, mind you, that a mere sixty years ago had separate water fountains for people of color, segregated schools and virtually zero environmental protection laws, and still is out of whack on a wide variety of issues. I vastly prefer my wiring. Now I’m fully aligned with virtue, with beauty, with goodness, with life, with all of the greatest minds of history. This prompts me to continue to look for opportunities for improvement. I’m on the lookout for what is lurking in my personality or beliefs or behavior that still have a toe in that cocoon of selfishness.
I have to wonder what kind of world we would have if more “liberals” here in America and around the world would self-examine and commit to the “whole liberal” track. Are you for peace? Are you for the General Welfare? Are you for liberty for all? Are you for justice for all? Are you for equality of personhood for all? Are you for respect for all? Are you for a clean, healthy, sustainable environment? Are you against oppression, exploitation, violence? Are you really pro life? Are you really pro love? Are you really an “animal lover?” Are you on the side of Mother Earth? Who are you still oppressing, overtly or inadvertently?
If you’re only on your side, you are a lame “liberal.” The day all of us ”liberals” truly have each other’s back… that’s when we become unstoppable! That’s our only hope for peace on Earth.
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No Hate.
No Violence.
All Life is Sacred.
The Universe is Magnificent & Beautiful.
Love is the Way.
Copyright 2023, Rusty Reid
