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NorthernGent -> RE: Perhaps CM Should Rename This Section (12/22/2007 4:05:00 AM)
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Some points regarding Mill:
1) Mill believed that people should only coerce others in self-defence, thus ruling out idealistic interventions such as the current invasion of Iraq. Fastforward 150 years and Isaiah Berlin (possibly the best known liberal of the past 50 years), was vehement in his view that there is no such thing as the one true answer to society's ills, and, consequently, people should never come to believe they are entitled to coerce others into adopting their value system - Berlin saw danger in forcing ideas on other people, Mill saw this danger, the advocates of the invasion of Iraq do not share their view: today, liberals oppose this invasion, as would Mill were he alive today.
2) Mill was a strong advocate of women's rights, proportional representation and trade unions; in other words, he promoted equal access to opportunity, which remains a liberal cause to this day.
3) A quote from Mill's autobiography:
In short, I was a democrat, but not the least of a Socialist. We were now much less democrats than I had been, because so long as education continues to be so wretchedly imperfect, we dreaded the ignorance and especially the selfishness and brutality of the mass: but our ideal of ultimate improvement went far beyond Democracy, and would class us decidedly under the general designation of Socialists. While we repudiated with the greatest energy that tyranny of society over the individual which most Socialistic systems are supposed to involve, we yet looked forward to a time when society will no longer be divided into the idle and the industrious;
In other words, quality education for all will drive widespread happiness and prosperity in society. This remains a liberal concept; conservatives argue there will always be haves and have nots, i.e. a natural order, so it is futile to channel resources into supporting the lot of those in the poorest-socio economic groups in society. Mill would not agree were he alive today; he would look forward to a society no longer divided into the idle and industrious.
I'll accept that liberals and conservatives share certain beliefs, so you will always be able to find a certain amount of common ground, but, in his day, John Stuart Mill was a liberal, and he has far more in common with the modern day British Liberal Democrat Party, compared with the modern day British Conservative Party.
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