The roots of liberalism and the culture of death

By Aussiegirl

Tim Birdnow, writing in
The American Thinker explores the roots of the current culture of death espoused by the modern liberals and democrats. He starts with the Aldous Huxley novel, "Brave New World", which describes a future utopian society in which the inhabitants are brainwashed into viewing death as a necessary and even beautiful thing. He goes on to analyze and to give us his answer to Peggy Noonan's question of - what makes these people so half in love with death.

Read a short excerpt:

Liberalism was born out of the Renaissance, which was a rediscovery of our Greek and Latin heritage. The Renaissance era saw a revival in interest in all things Greek and Roman; in art, literature, history, science, mathematics, and other branches of classical learning.
The Greeks and Romans had, for all their virtues, a far weaker respect for human life than their Christian successors. In fact, the Greeks and Romans saw a kind of nobility in death - especially a death for a higher cause. Liberalism has always had a fascination with the Classical period. The vision of Socrates ingesting hemlock for the good of the polis has a romantic appeal to the average liberal, and the word ?hemlock? has been used by various groups advocating euthanasia and ?death with dignity.? A ?good death? (which is what the word euthanasia means) done nobly and well is far preferable to a slow, wasting process."