Six Principles of Brentian Political Liberalism |
6. Moderation |
1. Optimism |
4. Gentleness |
5. Principles |
3. Democracy |
2. Cooperation |
This may seem to be a contradiction of the 5th principle, which might seem to state that principle are absolute. However, it simply means that although principles that we stand for should not be abandoned, we should not go too far and fail to listen to reasons about why a certain principles just doesn't work in some situation. |
Optimism means that there must be a great amount of evidence that something will just never work before it is conceded that it won’t. The margin of possibility is great, and humankind can accomplish great things working together. This also means that the traditional way of doing things is not the only way. This is optomism in terms of what works, not outlook, because I state that the way the world works is that nothing is static and not many things are impossible. Thus, optimism in terms of outlook is not the essence of this principle, but rather the label given to the outlook people have when they recognise this truth about the world. |
What Works |
Cooperation is one of the best ways of getting things done, whatever the task. This means that socialism has a lot of advantages over capitalism, because in socialism the people work together towards a common goal whereas in capitalism people compete against each other. It also means that in foreign policy nations should work together through things like the UN. |
Democracy is closely tied with the principle of cooperation. This means that there should be a lot of collective decision making and these decisions should be made through democracy. Important decisions about society should not be determined by one person or a certain group of people, but rather by a democratic process. This includes decisions from the level of the town to the level of the globe. One example of an important societal decision is the economic question, which can be divided into what to produce, how to produce it, and who to produce it for. |
“Nothing is so strong as gentleness; nothing so gentle as real strength”. This quote has much truth. Of course in many cases force needs to be used, but net gentleness needs to result. This means that harsh punishment for crimes is wrong and ineffective. War is effective in very few cases. Things like welfare reform which attempt to force people to get off welfare and get jobs are ineffective. Note that taxing people is often not gentle, but it is required to do other gentle things as well as fufill other principles. On the other hand, things which help people are generally effective. Rehabilitation is a good method for helping people. Waging peace instead of war works rather well, as does providing things like foreign aid. |
This means sticking to basic principles that we all hold is the most effective way of achieving. Human life is sacred and therefore the death penalty is wrong. Democracy is essential and must be worked towards in all nations. No status quo of monarchy should be allowed to stay long-term. There should be no using armies which are human rights violators in many missions. Human rights are essential. There should be no lessening of workers rights in trying to promote economic development; these must be integrated into the effort of economic development. There should be no playing around with freedom of speech. |
So… those are the principles. Most if not all of my political beliefs can be explained by at least one, probably most often more than one, of these principles. |