Member-only story
The Death Of Our Political Terminology
Conservative, liberal, progressive, center-left, far-right — it’s nonsense
“I am not a liberal, not a conservative, not a believer in gradual progress, not a monk. I should like to be a free artist and nothing more.” — Anton Chekhov
Western words
I do not like the labels — Liberal, Conservative, Progressive, and other meaningless political titles. I decided long ago to avoid this linguistic swamp.
I know where I stand on certain issues today, at a particular moment, and that is what matters most. I have no idea what the status politically is of my stance. And I also sense that those labels create more confusion and that is the whole point.
Like when the levees in Louisiana gave way and the city of New Orleans flooded, few people were small government libertarians. There were some zombie conservatives still voting against funding the rescue and recovery mission but they were outliers and were mostly dismissed as ideological, heartless idiots.
Then there is the whole notion of what is a liberal or liberalism. The Libertarian economist, and author of The Road To Serfdom, Frederich Hayek always…
