I am a Liberal

“I believe in a relatively equal society, supported by institutions that limit extremes of wealth and poverty. I believe in democracy, civil liberties, and the rule of law. That makes me a liberal, and I’m proud of it.” 

                                                              Paul Krugman

The subject of the following Op-Ed piece is the loss that occurred when Liberals capitulated to Conservatives and relinquished calling themselves "Liberals."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/opinion/moynihan-liberals-progressives-lost.html

Our Founding Fathers were Enlightment Liberals who based the principles contained in the United States Constitution on John Locke's ideas many of which can be found in his work the, "Second Treatise of Government." Sadly Locke was not egalitarian and neither were our Founding Fathers, so women and persons of color were left out. Our constitution in Article V provides for its amendment so as our culture has become more egalitarian this to some extent has been reflected in the constitution through the amendment process. Amidst a dogmatically Christian culture the framers of the consitution had the wisdom to write the constitution as an exclusively secular document.  Try explaining that to an Evangelical Christian.

The genealogy of "Enlightenment" is not John Winthrop's "Shining City Upon A Hill" but the "Age of Enlightment" with reason enshrined as its guiding principle. This, we Liberals should cherish and protect.