SOUNDING OFF:

Mark Levin of ABC radio says liberalism is, “the philosophy of the stupid.” Sean Hannity, also of ABC radio and Fox News, is misleading on a daily basis about what it means to be a liberal. Randi Rhodes, formerly of Air America and now on the Nova M Radio Network, is misleading on a daily basis about what it means to be a conservative.

Jamshed H. Dastur (“Will the Pilot let any liberal views through?” Sounding Off, April 8) and Barbara Venezia (“I, a conservative shill? Hardly,” Recipe for Success, April 17) appear to have no clue about what it means to be a liberal or conservative. Dastur thinks if you support Sen. John McCain, that makes you a conservative. Venezia thinks tattoos, music or volunteer work makes you a liberal. This is emotional thinking, at best. Possibly they listen to Sean and Randi too much! My two cents follows:

First, what you do is what you are — not what you say. Being a liberal is a way of living. Liberalism is not a political party nor does it have anything to do with any particular political party.

Second, there are no negative definitions of liberal, libertarian or conservative until partisan hack teachers, politicians, newsprint and talking heads use the words. The use of the word “liberal” (by authoritarian socialists and conservatives) or to use the language of liberalism (by Marxists and communists) does not make them liberals...not any kind of liberal.

Third, Democrats are not liberals, never have been liberals and probably never will be. Unless they stop past and present, being members and supporters of the Ku Klux Klan, The Race, violent unions, extreme intolerant groups, Jim Crow Laws and public policy that rewards or punishes citizens based on race, culture or status.

Fourth, the L.A. Times and most print media are authoritarian in nature, neither liberal nor conservative. They claim a special source of trustworthy knowledge that allows them to mold the news as they think best for the good of all society. Said a different way, they are authoritarian social engineers, not reporters of facts.

Fifth, most libertarians and conservatives have co-opted core values and principals of liberalism and call it their own, but not Democrats or the Green Party. I wish they would.

Sixth, conservatives aim to keep guard, to preserve with the ability to improve, and are not radical, not revolutionary. They strive for well-planned small incremental changes in political, social and religious institutions. They preserve established traditions or institutions and oppose change.

Seventh, libertarianism: Individuals are free to choose to act other than they do, they are personally responsible for what they do, and freedom rules out causal determinism. They are protectors of human rights, life, liberty and property. To initiate aggression is never acceptable.

And last but not least, what it means to be a liberal and liberalism: attitude, philosophy, or movement that has as its core concern the development of personal freedom, popular sovereignty, right of rebellion against oppression, free markets, free trade and the exercise of free will.

One of its central theses has long been that a government’s claim to authority is justified only if the government can show those who live under it that it secures their freedom, and is concerned to protect their life, liberty and property. The government that governs least governs best. It’s also about freedom of conscience and limited government that does not try to re-distribute wealth or goods. Benefits and burdens are distributed justly when government allows every individual the freedom to do what he chooses to do for himself and others.

And it’s suitable for a free man, tolerant of views differing from one’s own — of Republican forms of government. Liberalism favors reforms as in religion, education, etc., specifically favoring political reforms tending toward personal freedom for the individual. Liberalism is distinguished from progressivism as connoting more conservatism.

Individual freedom is the natural state of man, as men were created free. It implies emancipation from what binds the mind or will.

The roots of liberalism can be found in the individualism of John Locke and John Stuart Mill — the idea that the best society is one in which individuals are free to pursue their own interests as each chooses without causing harm to others. Liberals are noble, generous and free from prejudice.

“What country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that the people preserve the spirit of resistance.” Thomas Jefferson, 1787.

These are not the words of a socialist or a conservative. These are the words of a liberal.

AUGUST LIGHTFOOT lives in Newport Beach.