Not as in “Funny Ha Ha”

Ironic that in Japan the conservative party is called “the Liberal Democratic Party”, or is that just an indication of the drift to the extreme right that has enveloped the western world. In a historical context that’s not as strange as it sounds.

The “liberals” during the period of the elder Mills (and his side kick, Jeremy Bentham) espoused ideals now reflected in neoconservative (formerly neoliberal) philosophy but that term (“liberal”), as used by today’s “conservative” elements in the US, is merely a pejorative for anything they oppose regardless of philosophical nexus. Today’s “conservatives” for the most part have no idea of the philosophical underpinnings of that philosophy (conservatism), the beautiful realization that we on the planet today ought not to be the only ones considered when making decisions, but that both our ancestors and our progeny deserve a voice in choices that impact them, a realization best reflected in today’s environmentalist champions who are, oddly, anathema to most of today’s self-anointed “conservatives”.

The world is a funny place, but not as in “funny ha ha.”
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© Guillermo Calvo Mahé; Manizales, 2012; all rights reserved. Dr. Calvo chairs the political science, government and international relations programs at the Universidad Autónoma de Manizales in the Republic of Colombia.