David Brin is a self-identified Libertarian, a philosophical leaning I usually despise because the Libertarianism expressed by Americans today generally is more Anarchist than Libertarian in its truest sense, but the ideals he expresses are more inline with my own Liberal ideals than most self-proclaimed liberals are. He advocates that Liberals need to rediscover what Liberalism actually is, and suggests we start by reading Adam Smith, not just his Wealth of Nations, which Republicans and Conservatives have cherry picked in such a way as to claim his work supports conservative agendas when, in fact, a full reading of Adam Smith actually specifically decries almost everything the Republicans and other conservative thinkers hold to be true. Reading his Theory of Moral Sentiments, written before Wealth of Nations and the foundation for same, further undermines almost every objective current Republicans hold dear. By coming to a fuller understanding of Adam Smith, we can begin to unravel many of the arguments Conservatives have based on their misunderstanding of Adam Smiths work, in such a way as to potentially bring people who lean conservative over to a more liberal and moral means of measuring and formulating economic policy.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 01:57:04 +0000