Published: 30.08.2024
Polish journalist and essayist Paweł Lisicki, editor-in-chief of the weekly Do Rzeczy, describes the current disturbing evolution of Western liberalism and explains the reasons why classical liberalism, based on individual freedom and limited state interference in the personal lives of citizens, is no longer working. This applies to Poland, as it does to the rest of the Western world, as seen in the increasingly vicious attacks on conservatives by the left-liberal camp. An extreme expression of this across the Atlantic was the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
“Freedom was only possible in a certain tradition, specifically in the Western tradition, the Christian tradition, a tradition in which there were certain kinds of values considered inviolable,” Lisicki says.
In an atmosphere of total freedom, in which we do not recognize common moral principles, the strong begin to have power. This started in the 1950’s and -60’s in the United States, and the trend then penetrated Europe. Today’s so-called left-wing liberalism, attempting to redefine society, rejects the law of nature. It results in a government that theoretically preaches freedom, but in reality becomes increasingly despotic,” Lisicki says, also recalling the considerable influence of cultural Marxism on today’s adherents of liberalism.
“The liberal state, which arose and distinguished itself by being a state of freedom, is increasingly turning into a state of dictatorship and tyranny, because each time it interferes with what is natural, it must force the general citizenry to comply with these new decisions. And it can only do this by increasing its control over these citizens.”
This is why the concept of “illiberal democracy” introduced by Hungary’s Viktor Orbán is today becoming the freedom option. The editor-in-chief of Do Rzeczy cites the example of Hungary’s Child Protection Act, which bans LGBT propaganda aimed at minors in (among others) schools, thus preserving the freedom of parents to educate their children according to their principles and beliefs.
Olivier Bault, Director of Communications at the Ordo Iuris Institute, conducted the interview.
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