Is Socialism a Liberal Idea?

By Lex Greene

May 27, 2022

The answer to that question depends on who you ask. If you ask a young public school or college indoctrinated kid, they will likely tell you yes. But if you ask anyone old enough or properly educated enough to know the truth, the answer is no.

However, I’ll present the facts on the matter, and you can decide for yourself.

As it pertains to political ideology specifically, the word “liberal” means “Free; open; candid; as in, a liberal communication of thoughts,” the total opposite of our current socialist mass censorship agenda, referred to as the “cancel culture.”

The word is taken from the word “liberty,” which means, “Freedom from restraint, in a general sense, and applicable to the body, or to the will or mind. The body is at liberty when not confined; the will or mind is at liberty when not checked or controlled.” For the record, the word “liberalism” didn’t exist in the late 1700s at the time of our nation’s founding, but today, it simply means “the quality or state of being liberal.”

Another important word in this examination is “totalitarian,” which means “of or relating to a political regime based on subordination of the individual to the state and strict control of all aspects of the life and productive capacity of the nation especially by coercive measures (such as censorship and terrorism).”

Clearly, these two political ideas are diametrically opposite one another, with liberal essentially meaning “free” and totalitarian meaning the exact opposite of free, enslaved by government.

A totalitarian form of government comes in many forms by many names, such as communism. According to today’s Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, modern political ideologies listed as other forms of totalitarian government include the following;

• collectivism

• bolshevism,
• Leninism,
• Marxism, 
• Socialism
• Sovietism,
• Stalinism

• leftism

• liberalism

• radicalism

• Big Brotherism,
• fascism, 
• Nazism
• absolutism,
• autarchy,
• authoritarianism, 
• autocracy,
• Caesarism,
• czarism,
• despotism, 
• dictatorship, 
• totalism,
• and tyranny

Clearly, none of these political concepts are at all consistent with the basis of liberal or liberty concepts, even though Merriam-Webster currently includes “liberalism” as a form of totalitarianism. That’s only because modern American liberals are not actually liberal, liberty minded. Today’s American liberals are actually socialists, often referring to themselves as democratic socialists. Adding the word “democratic”is intended to hide the true meaning of what they really are, socialists via democratic processes, as taught by Karl Marx.

But in the late 17^th century, to be a political liberal meant; “one desiring a maximum degree of liberty.” That idea was represented by the anti-federalist movement led by Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee. This group of Founders believed in a maximum degree of individual liberty, the basis for classic liberalism, which requires a minimum degree of centralized governmental powers over the people.

“In U.S. history, anti-federalists were those who opposed the development of a strong federal government and the ratification of the Constitution in 1788, preferring instead for power to remain in the hands of state and local governments. Federalists wanted a stronger national government and the ratification of the Constitution to help properly manage the debt and tensions following the American Revolution. Formed by Alexander Hamilton, the Federalist Party, which existed from 1792 to 1824, was the culmination of American federalism and the first political party in the United States. John Adams, the second president of the United States, was the first and only Federalist president.” – SOURCE

NOTE: This reality begs the question, why do modern “patriots” study and quote the Federalist Papers instead of the anti-federalist papers?

Fundamentally, a true liberal would believe in the same things the anti-federalists believed, which are opposite the things associated with any form of totalitarian government, including socialism and Marxism. They would be followers of Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee, rather than Karl Marx, Chairman Mao, Lenin, Hitler, and Stalin.

A true liberal is open, free, and giving of themselves. But socialists are closed, seeking to take from others that which they did not earn, and are responsible for today’s cancel culture in the USA. Far left political figures like Bernie Sanders and AOC have been conning young voters for years. They convince young people to vote themselves and everyone else into bondage with false promises of free gifts from the treasury, usually never delivered.

At the adoption of the Constitution, the federalists won the debate, and they created a central government that soon became tyrannical towards those from whom all political power is derived, We the People. But thanks to the anti-federalists, the Constitution would never have been adopted without the Bill of Rights, which prohibits the federal government from most of what it does these days.

The fact is…if you’re a liberal, you can’t be a socialist, or support any other form of totalitarian dictatorship. You can’t support any cancel culture or form of censorship. You can’t believe in collectivism of any kind because that’s mere tyrannical mob rule over individual liberty.

So now you can decide… are you really a liberal? Or are you really just another socialist masquerading as a liberal? Only you know…

But if you walk like a socialist, act like a socialist, talk like a socialist, and support socialists, then guess what…you’re not a liberal!

While I’m on the subject, the word “conservative” means (adjective) “Preservative; having power to preserve in a safe or entire state, or from loss, waste or injury.” In the case of American conservatism, it means to protect and preserve the foundations and principles of freedom, liberty, and justice for all, codified in our Charters of Freedom.

Just maybe, you’re actually a conservative. Throughout human history, freedom once lost, is never regained. The objective of “conserving” the foundations of freedom and liberty is actually a “liberal” idea, based upon the anti-Federalist basis for classic liberalism. Every other political idea is a “totalitarian” idea.

© 2022 Lex Greene – All Rights Reserved

E-Mail Lex Greene: NWVLexGreene@gmail.com