David Horowitz/Hitchens

Justin Schwartz jkschw at hotmail.com
Sat Mar 3 19:52:21 PST 2001


.the only legacy of liberalism seems to
>be empirical proof that it can't be relied upon unless something is done
>about the concentration of economic, political and cultural power in the
>hands of the few who control the means of production

Which is why I am a socialist, eh?

(the sorta power that
>now has you so regularly assuring the LBO archives of your acceptable
>political hue?) - with which liberalism would have a problem, owing to the
>rights to property immanent in yer formal liberal individual ...

There is no "now" about it; I have always been a liberal democrat. And it's not a position that wins me much credit here, any more than my socialist politics are likely to win me much credit with, say, the Senate Judiciary Committee.

I don't think that private property rights are "immanent" in liberal democracy, a view I identify with a commitment to competitive elections, universal suffrage, and broad civil and political rights, including particularly rights of freedom of speech and assembly, to due process and equal protection of the laws. I think any socialism worth fighting for will embody liberal democracy in this sense--totally standard and utterly nonidiosyncratic--that I state here.

--jks _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list