One of the most basic justifications offered by modern liberals and social justice warriors for their interventionist, redistributionist, social-justice and political-correctness ways is that they are the ones who care about their fellow men, about the poorest, weakest, most at-risk and neediest members of society. In this, and in so much, they claim their activities show respect for others and for individuals human dignity. By extension, we are to presume that anyone who doesn’t do and think as they do doesn’t have or demonstrate that respect.
“Respect,” however, can be a tricky word and a slippery concept. Consider the ways that our liberal friends show their respect. They take from some to give to others. They tell some what they cannot do in order to protect others. They tell some what they must do in order to protect others. They decide what words may be used and who may use them, to ensure that some do not offend others. They decide that no one may work for another unless both agree to rules and wages they themselves decide and impose. They create hierarchies, of liberty, of aggrievement, of redistribution, whereby some are shown respect at the expense, subjugation or subordination of others. They declare that the wrongs some committed against others in the past must be counterbalanced by committing wrongs to still others. They subordinate individuals to groups, groups that they themselves delineate and subdivide, no matter what individuals may wish to the contrary.
This is their version of respect, and it doesn’t seem particularly… respectful.
Consider, in contrast, the respect that libertarians offer their fellows. We believe that others should live their lives as unmolested as possible, that they should make the choices they wish, that they should keep what they earn and what they own, that they can say what they wish, do what they want, go where they want, contract as they wish, believe as they wish, not-believe as they wish, and be safe and secure in their persons and belongings as long as they respect others’ rights to the same.
Who has more respect for people? Who affords others that which he wishes afforded to him? Who recognizes others’ liberty and dignity? Who treats others as equals? The answer seems pretty clear.
Now, before my conservative friends get all excited about this take-down of their nemeses on the left, they should take a look at their own attitudes towards others. When it comes to matters of religion, of individual vices, of sexual orientation and preference, and other “social conservative” topics, respect for others’ self-determination gets subordinated to their own preferences. Religious freedom is often conflated with the freedom to be a Christian, with those of other beliefs or no beliefs not afforded the same level of consideration. Social conservatism demands the state regulate or ban consensual activities deemed to be vices, including gambling, the sale and use of alcohol and some drugs, pornography, prostitution, and so forth. Conservatives who rail against the state intruding in certain areas of their lives often jump vigorously to the defense of state intervention in other areas, including the state licensing, regulating and incentivizing “traditional” marriage. The defense of all these interventions in the lives of others is often declared a push-back against liberalism encroaching on them and their liberties, but in truth it’s a declaration that they deem their beliefs superior to those of people who don’t share them, and don’t want other beliefs given equal time.
A common libertarian internet meme reads
Libertarians – diligently plotting to take over the world and leave you alone.
THAT is real respect.
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