It has come to my attention recently that modern-day Republicans have written books on the premise that "liberalism," or the "liberal mob" is what is responsible for the degeneration of modern American politics. Do such people really realize what classic liberalism really was, though? Do they realize that 19th century liberals included among their ranks a man who resented the fact that poor people were allowed to procreate (Thomas Malthus) and that "to some hardhearted liberals, the Irish famine of 1845-49, which killed about 1.5 million people, was simply nature's way of dealing with Ireland's excess population" 1 Strains of Social Darwinism, usually thought of in modern America as a far-right ideology, can be found within 19th century liberal thought! In reality, classic liberalism is found on the right side of the political spectrum, and Ann Coulter and Michael Savage are classic liberals themselves!

What we have grown accustomed to calling "liberal" in this country is really socialist, and I don't mean that in a bad way either. Ron Paul is a quintessential liberal in this country today, and presidents such as FDR, Lyndon Johnson, and Bill Clinton, who have helped to set right historical injustices against the poor, have been classic socialists. Our current president is a true socialist as well.

Then again, I do realize that maybe these modern politicians have revised the political spectrum to accomodate the fact that true "conservatives" no longer exist in American politics anymore. Therefore, those with the farthest right ideology are called "conservatives."

This is just a topic that's truly intriguing to me. Feel free to criticize or set me right if anything I've asserted is wrong

Work Cited

1. Perry, Marvin, Myrna Chase, James R. Jacob, Margaret C. Jacob, and Theodore H. Von Laue. Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2009), 536.