Politics

Frederick Douglass, Classical Liberal

|

Damon Root did a fine job drawing from my book and other sources to reveal that Frederick Douglass' thought occasionally was "suspiciously libertarian" ("Frederick Douglass, Classical Liberal," August/September). But one of the central conclusions of my book, The Political Thought of Frederick Douglass: In Pursuit of American Liberty (New York University Press), is that Douglass' thought defies such easy categorization. Indeed, he reminds us that complex political problems often require us to abandon the comforts of ideological purity. Lest readers come away with the impression that categorizing Douglass as a "classical liberal" or "libertarian" is without any difficulties, allow me to raise a couple of problems. 

First, libertarians might find some of Douglass' writings on the "The Labor Question" to be suspiciously progressive: "That society is a failure in which the large majority of its members, without any direct fault of their own, would, if any accidental circumstances deprived them for a month of the opportunity of earning regular wages, be dependent upon private or public charity for daily bread." We could quibble about how Douglass' ideas on the labor question might translate into our own times, but the spirit of what he is saying is more comfortably assimilated into the reform liberal tradition.

Second, some of Douglass' ideas about the social realm probably would strike contemporary libertarians as frighteningly puritanical. In 1886, for example, Douglass wrote a letter to The Issue magazine in which he declared himself a prohibitionist: "The sober contemplation of the evils of intemperance not only upon the dram drinker, but upon his family, his friends, and upon society generally, has compelled me to go the whole length for prohibition." 

I write this not to argue that Douglass was right about the labor question or prohibition. Instead, I write to make a broader point about our responsibility as interpreters of history: We should not try to remake great political thinkers (even our heroes) in our own image. 

Nicholas Buccola 

Portland, OR

Letters are welcome and should be addressed to 

reason 1747 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20009 fax: 202-315-3623 letters@reason.com

Here is our sage advice for you poor young suckers—You need to get real busy making lots and lots of babies. You are going to need a lot more of them if there are going to be enough people in the next generation to support you as you will be supporting us boomers.

reason.com commenter "Dividist" in response to "Generational Warfare" (August/September)

I don't understand what the big deal is, all we need is more windows to break and everything will be fine.

reason.com commenter "anon" in response to "Unthinkable, Predictable Disasters" (August/September)

Light rail transit has been needlessly forced upon us here in the Twin Cities. They are currently building a line down a main thoroughfare that runs between Minneapolis and St. Paul, areas of which are populated by some of the poorest citizens. The construction has been devastating to those that own small businesses in the area. Before construction began, you could drive from one end of this thoroughfare to the other—from just outside downtown St. Paul to Minneapolis—in under 15 minutes, even if stop lights were against you. It is estimated the trip by train will take 45 minutes.

reason.com commenter "Orange Crayons" in response to "How Rail Screws the Poor" (August/September)