Right-of-center politics primarily focus on protecting the human rights of citizens from their governments and/or people who are delegitimized as citizens (ie brown people). These rights include jobs, property, money and, idk, not being called racist I think?pic.twitter.com/uJL12mxy3z
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Left-of-center politics primarily focus on protecting the human rights of workers/normal people from capitalists/capitalism (sometimes via a “social safety net”). These rights include healthcare, food, and other things you actually need to live.pic.twitter.com/hh1M6DIHEc
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Lately, left-of-center politics have also focused on protecting the human rights of minority groups and women from majority groups and men. Here rights include equal access to government facilities and public accommodations, voting rights, reproductive rights, etc.pic.twitter.com/CWbejAfiDi
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Both parties, both historically and today, have held positions that could reasonably be called liberal. I mock Paul Ryan, but the truth is that laissez-faire capitalism and to an extent Ayn Randism are totally justified under a plausible interpretation of liberal ideas.
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At the end of the day, almost all of us are liberals, unless we don’t believe that human right exist and should generally be respected, which like... what?pic.twitter.com/hUiCvkSJyU
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The difference lies in what aspect of the liberal project you emphasize, and what aspects you’re willing to ignore—and what you’re willing to do to make the parts you care about actually happen.
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A final addendum: both the “social justice” left and the alt-right consciously or unconsciously pose a challenge to liberalism insofar as they focus on the rights of groups or collectives rather than individuals.
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Neither camp TOTALLY disregards human rights, but both camps argue that individual rights exist within a larger context of the rights of certain groups of individuals.
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Of course, the “identity politics” that focuses on the rights of groups has existed forever, and in America has primarily benefitted whites, especially rich cishet white men. But today it’s becoming more conscious and explicit again.
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Far from believing this challenge to liberalism represents a Grave Threat To All We Hold Dear, however, I think this is a potential area of growth for liberal ideology to develop into something that better suits our times:
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A post-liberal ideology that recognizes the rights and legitimate interests that we inherit from our differences rather than from our common humanity.
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