October 19, 2006

Ann Coulter is Half-Right

In her recent book Godless, Ann Coulter presents the thesis that American Liberalism is actually a godless religion. In that respect she is half-right. Liberalism is a religion, Christianity, which certainly is not godless. If one boils down Liberalism to its base, it is actually the belief that the individual is strongest when working consensually and cooperatively with others who share similar needs and wants. Christianity, when stripped of the barnacles that have become attached over the centuries, is the belief that when one loves God, loves his neighbor as himself, and treats others as he would like to be treated, something divine and miraculous happens -- justice, peace, and prosperity are furthered. The disinterested self-sufficiency that is lionized by those more to the right of the political spectrum is antithetical to the Spirit of Jesus, who advised the rich to give all of their money to the poor. Critics of Liberalism frequently accuse it of being a watered-down Communism. However, like true Christianity, Liberalism is actually undone by coercion. In both systems, people cooperate with others so that others will cooperate with them -- and everyone benefits.