Liberalism, as is understood in most of the world, grew out of the Age of Enlightenment of the 17th and 18^th centuries. At that time, the European world was based on the power of kings, the rights of aristocracy, and government for the benefit of the few. That was the conservative system. It believed that a strong central authority and a stabilized elite were important for a country’s structure, identity, and preservation.

Liberalism opposed this. It advocated for the rights of ordinary citizens and for government by those being governed. In that sense, the American Revolution was a liberal action, the Constitution of the United States was a liberal document, and the Founding Fathers were liberals. American conservatives supported the monarchy, aristocracy, and preservation of Britain’s colonial system. The separation between liberal and conservative ideals was clear.

Those distinctions have been only partially maintained in American politics. Many who think of themselves as liberals talk about the rights and freedom of individuals but want to use the power of the state to conform some attitudes and speech to their wishes. They suborn political freedom of individuals to political equality of groups, and the liberality that once implied an attitude of tolerance now takes on a tone of intolerance. Liberalism, which originally wanted less government regulating our lives, now wants more.  

American conservatives, in a reversal of their traditions, now claim to be the advocates for individual freedom and less government regulation; however, they apparently see no inconsistency in increasing government regulation to restrict individual freedom in cases like a woman’s freedom to make choices in reproductive health care. These and other contortions in the liberal and conservative wings of our political spectrum are a confusing aspect of American politics, a confusion now amplified by a social media which has become as ubiquitous as it is toxic. In that information environment almost anything becomes believable to those who are politically naïve or ignorant of basic facts. Seeking the comfort of simple solutions many move toward the political left or right leaving the moderate middle abandoned. If not remedied, that absence of a bonding center suggests a future of great difficulty.  

 A robust political center is important because it buffers the extreme reactions of either wing. It cools volatile rhetoric and facilitates the compromises that allow a functioning government. When the center does not hold, when either the left or right wing is allowed to act unrestrained, disaster happens. The Terror of the French Revolution, the excesses of the Russian and Spanish Revolutions, and the calamity of Germany’s fascism are examples that show how easy it is for a single wing to stir a people to excessive passion and excessive action. If you think we are too far removed from “those types of people,” think again. The fathers of a few now living among us and the grandfathers of many more have often witnessed, if not demonstrated that heated rhetoric can quickly move us from anger to violence.

You know what I’m talking about. Less than a century ago rumor and poisonous rhetoric often drove outraged mobs of white men and women to murder black men and women presumed to be guilty of crimes or even violation of social customs. That history illustrates how we are not beyond hearing the drum beat of offended sensibilities and the trumpet call of hatred. In the political world, that kind of animus is only stirred at the left and right wings, which is why it is so important for the center to hold, to refuse the simple solutions of political wings, and to be a home for fair and functioning government.    

Terry Turner, a resident of Colquitt County, is professor emeritus of urology at the University of Virginia as well as author of books based on his experiences as an infantry officer in Vietnam.