Liberal political views: history and modernity

Contrary to the popular belief that liberalism is something completely new, brought into the Russian culture by Western trends, liberal political views in Russia have a very extensive history. Usually the arrival of these political views in our country is customarily dated in the mid-18th century, when the first thoughts of freedom began to creep into the minds of the most enlightened citizens of the state. The most vivid representative of the first generation of liberals in Russia is Mikhail Speransky.

But, if you think about it, liberalism is almost as old as Christianity, and even as ancient Greek philosophers. After all, proceeding precisely from the Greek word for freedom, liberal political views, above all, imply the value of this very freedom as the greatest gift that is at the mercy of man. And we are talking not only about the internal freedom of the individual, but also freedom of the citizen from the state. This implies non-interference of the state in any private affairs of its citizens, the ability to freely express its political views, the lack of censorship and dictatorship on the part of the country's leaders, namely, it was preached by both ancient philosophers and the first adherents of Christianity.

Under personal freedom, people who advocate liberal views understand freedom of self-realization, as well as freedom to resist any force coming from outside. If a person is internally unfree, it inevitably leads to his collapse as a person, because external interference can easily break it. As a result of lack of freedom, liberals consider an increase in aggression, a lack of possibility to adequately assess key worldview concepts such as truth, good, evil.

In addition, liberal political views imply the freedom of choice, which must be guaranteed by the state. Freedom to choose a place of residence, occupation, movement, and others are the bases on which any liberal government should hold. At the same time, even for the adherents of liberalism, even the slightest manifestation of aggression is unacceptable: any changes in the state must be achieved only by an evolutionary, peaceful path. A revolution in any form is already a violation of the freedom of some citizens by others, and, therefore, it is inadmissible for those who profess liberal political views. In Russia in the late 19th and early 20th century, the liberals lost precisely because they expected reforms from the authorities that would help transform the country without bloodshed. But, unfortunately, this way of development of the state was rejected by the monarchy, the result of which was the revolution.

Thus, if we summarize, we can say that liberal political views are such a system of values, ideological ideas and ideological concepts, which is based on exclusive respect for freedom as a supreme value. The political and economic rights of a citizen, the possibility of implementing free enterprise activity throughout the country, the lack of total control by the state for its citizens, and the democratization of society are the main features of liberalism as a political system of views.

To implement such a system, a clear separation of branches of power is necessary in order to avoid its concentration in the hands of individuals or oligarchies. Therefore, the executive, judicial and legislative authorities that are clearly expressed and independent of each other are an inalienable attribute of any state living under liberal laws. Given this, as well as the fact that freedom and human rights are the highest value in practically all democratic countries of the world, it can be safely asserted that it was liberalism that became the basis for the creation of modern statehood.