Atlas of the Bleeding Heart
Liberalism and its near enemies
In Atlas of the Heart, Brené Brown maps eighty-seven commonly felt emotions. To do this, she compares near enemies — words that appear similar but in which this similarity clouds understanding. For example, empathy and sympathy are near enemies. Empathy and sympathy are both felt in response to others’ pain. Empathy involves non-judgmentally relating to our own experience of pain. Conversely, sympathy lacks connection and involves pity instead of compassion.
Similar to emotions, political labels are difficult to understand and have different meanings to different people. Politics, additionally, is an area where people frequently intentionally distort and misuse terms for political gain.
“War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength.”
— George Orwell, 1984
This article will define “liberal” by comparing liberalism to several near enemies. It will also discuss how liberals, libertarians, and progressives would ideally address the issues of housing, climate change, and drug use.
Liberals promote personal freedom. John Locke sees this freedom supported by protecting life, liberty, and property. In On Liberty, John Stuart Mill writes, “The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.” Ryan Chapman also has a great video on liberalism.
Libertarians also have a strong focus on the individual. They are skeptical of government and typically emphasize personal responsibility over personal freedom. Of course, maximizing one individual’s rights can lessen personal freedom more broadly. Policies become libertarian and not liberal when individuals are allowed to impede the freedom of others, though this point is nebulous.
Progressives seek progress — typically in the form of egalitarianism, or equal rights — and are comfortable with radical change to achieve this. Progressives have a larger focus on group identities and a correspondingly smaller attention on individuals compared to liberals. For example, feminists, communists, environmentalists, and civil rights activists are all progressives. These groups all support progress and egalitarianism. However, this can mean different things to different groups and even different things to the same group throughout time.
Corporatism — also known as crony capitalism or cronyism — is the suppression of personal freedom due to outsized corporate power. Anti-competitive regulations, corruption, and tax breaks for large companies are examples of corporatism. Governments can also impede personal freedom — ranging from paternalism to authoritarianism. Both corporatism and authoritarianism are forms of illiberalism.
Neoliberalism is economic libertarianism. Neoliberals support laissez-faire policies such as free trade, deregulation, and minimal taxation. These policies often, but not always, support personal freedom. Thus, neoliberal policies often, but not always, align with liberal values.
Lastly, Democrats are associated with the Democratic Party. Individual Democrats hold many different ideologies. Liberals in the US usually support Democrats over Republicans even though most Democratic politicians are corporatists. The Democratic Party finds consensus somewhere between liberalism, illiberalism, and progressivism.
These terms are misused as often as not. Liberal is often used interchangeably with Democrat or left-of-center. Similarly, when people say “very liberal,” they usually mean progressive.
Progressives and liberals both see high housing prices as a pressing issue but address them in very different ways. Progressives limit housing development to protect neighborhood feel and the environment and to discourage gentrification. Rent control, housing grants, and additions to the development code are all employed to address the ensuing high housing costs. This increases complexity and lowers profit for builders. Insufficient housing leads to bureaucracy which leads to even less housing. Liberals would set up basic zoning and building rules then let the market dictate the pace and location of new housing. Libertarians would also let the market dictate housing development with few, if any, guardrails.
Climate change is a classic tragedy of the commons in which there is a misalignment between each individual’s interest and that of the group as a whole. A business may make the most profit by emitting greenhouse gases with the cost borne by society. Libertarians have no solution for collective action problems since governmental intervention is required. Liberals would put a price on the harm and then apply a commensurate tax on any greenhouse gases produced. Ideally, this would align personal and group incentives allowing the market to find the most efficient solution. Progressives would decarbonize in a more centrally planned manner. Experts would envision a path toward decarbonization and then orchestrate disparate grants, taxes, and bans. In some situations, central planning can lead to better outcomes than would be realized through markets. Such situations are rare, and central planning is much more likely to lead to corporatism.
Progressives, liberals, and libertarians all support greater legalization of drugs but for different reasons. Progressives would point to the ineffectiveness of the war on drugs. This has been a losing battle with great and unequal harm. If people are going to take drugs regardless of legality, the government should find a new approach that minimizes this harm. Liberals and libertarians do not believe it is the government’s job to dictate what adults do with their bodies. Liberals support bans and taxes on substances that cause harm to others or the healthcare system. Libertarians would dissolve many agencies including the DEA and FDA.
Since progressivism is more a collection of goals than an ideology, the above policies illustrate how many progressives currently act and not necessarily what they believe. This is not the most favorable interpretation. Politicians typically considered liberal, for example, are often corporatist and hawkish even though these directly oppose liberal ideals. However, there are issues with progressivism — in practice and in thought. Total equality comes at the expense of freedom and individuality.
Extreme libertarianism is a nonsensical ideology as governments are required to support many functions in society. I compared an extreme version of libertarianism to highlight the differences with liberalism. This represents a minority opinion even among people who consider themselves libertarians.
Brené writes, “When we don’t have the language to talk about what we’re experiencing, our ability to make sense of what’s happening is severely limited…having the correct words to describe specific emotions makes us better able to identify those emotions in others, as well as to recognize and manage the emotional experiences when we feel them ourselves.” Likewise, the correct political language is necessary to recognize and manage our political experiences.
