Vivat Libertas

I am a teenager; I am a teenager under sixteen, to be slightly more precise and to give you some insight into my life. According to my elders and my supposed betters, this means that I am hormonal, boy-crazy and reckless. I am supposedly incapable of not being dramatic; any unhappiness I may feel is me making a mountain out of a molehill, ruled by my hormones and in need of a big, strong adult to show the whiny bitch her place. Anything I'm passionate about is just a passing phase, unworthy of discussion. I have nothing resembling logic, and even if I did, how could it compare to the long years of experience that wore my parents down from fired-up people into passive consumers? In short, if I don't follow my parents' advice to the letter (and perhaps even if I do), I'm going to do something stupid, because a bint like me simply isn't capable of justified emotion, actually caring about something, or doing smart things. I used to get really offended by this line o...

I don't think my liberal credentials are in any doubt. I do, however, devote far too much time and energy to criticising my own side. I find this problematic for three reasons: 1) I really shouldn't feel the need to criticise them in the first place 2) It makes it very easy for other people to accuse me of Not Being A True Liberal 3) I should be focusing on rebutting conservative viewpoints rather than liberal ones Putting all that aside, I'd like to focus on why  exactly I chose liberalism - and then try and apply that to why I keep criticising other liberals. If I'm absolutely honest with myself, I chose liberalism because I love freedom. I love freedom because of an emotional response to my lack of freedom - that's right, an emotional  response, not based on logic at all. Since then I've been looking at everything from an unashamedly liberal and egalitarian viewpoint, based purely on my emotional responses to oppression and inequality, and a distinct ...