The best place to begin, if we wish to cut to the core of liberalism, is with Locke: "Freedom of Men under Government, is, to have a standing Rule to live by, common to every one of that Society, and made by the Legislative Power erected in it." Elaborating on this classic formula, we can say that the highest political values, from a liberal perspective, are psychological security and personal independence for all, legal impartiality within a single system of laws applied equally to all, the human diversity fostered by liberty, and collective self-rule through elected government and uncensored discussion. These are the aims or moral bases of liberalism.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The best place to begin, if we wish to cut to the core of liberalism, is with Locke: "Freedom of Men under Government, is, to have a standing Rule to live by, common to every one of that Society, and made by the Legislative Power erected in it." Elaborating on this classic formula, we can say that the highest political values, from a liberal perspective, are psychological security and personal independence for all, legal impartiality within a single system of laws applied equally to all, the human diversity fostered by liberty, and collective self-rule through elected government and uncensored discussion. These are the aims or moral bases of liberalism." in the context of "Stephen Holmes, Passions and Constraint: On the Theory of Liberal Democracy (1995), pp. 15-16" to mean that wisdom is timeless.