THE cruel irony about modern liberalism is that it is turning itself into a kind of fascism.
Liberal values – once grounded in freedom and liberty – are now mainly concerned with politically correct thought control and in denying our people their historic freedoms of speech and expression.
Recent days have shown the modern liberal state in Britain and in Europe at its worst. Our political elite forms a shrill, proscriptive force, always wanting to bludgeon an unwilling population into behaving exactly the way they feel they ought to.
We don’t have the jackboots and the violence yet, but we do have the rest of the nasty stuff that comes with fascism, including an emerging Europe-wide superstate with totalitarian tendencies (the EU).

The EU is especially dangerous. Under German leadership currently, it wants to resurrect the hated European constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters only 18 months ago.
To get the Euro-constitution adopted here would (by modern British tradition though not constitutional necessity) need a public vote in favour, in other words a referendum.
Though there is no chance of the constitution being voted through by patriotic Brits, that won’t stop the new fascists who run Europe from trying to force the “harmonising� political structures through bit by bit, by other more devious means.
Meanwhile, even in small personal ways, we Brits are constantly under attack from the civil powers. For once thing, the relentless campaign against smokers, and nasty attempts to vilify them and criminalise them, makes me sick.
For centuries, English people have smoked tobacco in public houses. Now, this hideous Government, and governments right around the western world, have banned smoking in bars. That ban will come into effect in England later this year.
What will they try to ban next in pubs? Drinking alcohol? Well, don’t laugh, because already this Labour government is in talks with the brewers and distillers. It wants “health� warnings printed on bottles of booze.
I tell you, you start with “health� warnings enforced by the State, as they did with cigarettes, and you end with a total ban. That’s the way the new fascism works.
Already some drinks firms have agreed to put the pathetic injunction on bottles and cans which tells their customers to “use this product responsibly�. Oh, please, just p*** off!
Modern liberalism is now paying the price for its past failures; for its foolish encouragement of sexual promiscuity; for the failure of discipline in schools after liberals abolished corporal punishment; and for the promotion of licence instead of true liberty.
The liberal elite look at our society and they don’t like what it has become ... so they rush into repression.
And so it has come to pass that an ever bigger role is being prepared for the state, giving, for instance, your local council officials the right to enter your home to decide if you are living your life in the way that has their approval. What a bloody cheek!
And everywhere you go there are spy cameras trained on you; in the streets; on public transport; in shops and even in public parks. The implication is clear – the British state does not trust its people. Not at all.
In some rough towns where I have worked, such as Hull, CTTV cameras have even been installed INSIDE citizens’ homes.
And in recent years, the state has assembled a fantastic array of powers to oppress us, including the discredited ASBOs and tagging.
The latest wheeze is to bring in new measures though the civil courts (where a lower standard of proof is required) to restrict the activities of those suspected of money-laundering, drugs and fraud.
The hapless Home Secretary John Reid was wheeled out the other day to tell us the Government wants to “get the Mr Bigs of the organised crime world�. Yeah, yeah, yeah...
None of this is working.
We know in our heavy hearts that each time a Government Minister announces new measures, or a new “crackdown� on crime, or on anti-social behaviour, it is just more rolling PR bull***t with bells on.
Also, we are now getting huge rows about alleged “racism�, such as is happening with the Big Brother telly programme.
Listen, the problem with the likes of Jade Goody isn’t that she’s racist (I don’t believe she is, actually) but that she is so thick.
And stupid people such her are encouraged to become dumb and dumber on reality programmes such as Big Brother, which have moronic behaviour designed into them.
All that crawling through slime troughs and puerile “challenges� on BB and other “reality� shows – it really is thick telly for really thick people.
I say this with compassion, because I do not want people to be thick. I want them to be intelligent, witty and articulate because that means they will have a happier life.
Of course, no-one should insult anyone else verbally for the colour of their skin (though it is hardly the end of civilisation if they do).
But we have become so sensitive about matters of race and religion that now everyone is frightened to say anything for fear of “inciting� a situation, for causing an “offence� even where none was intended, and for fear of ending up in court accused of some dreadful “aggravated� crime.
And so it has come to pass, thanks to liberal law-makers, that we are living in fear of our own thoughts – and that is no way for anyone to live, apart from a fascist or a supporter of fascism.
All these problems with liberalism are happening because of its central and wrong assumption that we must all always be encouraged to explore our individuality and satisfy our personal needs.
Forget those great medieval virtues of obedience, service to others, duty and chivalry. They are history now, say our rulers.
Well, I’ve got news for the sneering elite – those virtues live on in the hearts of countless millions today, and I predict they are about to make a comeback.
The problems facing modern, liberal society, as it has developed, were long ago foreseen. In 1864, for instance, Pope Pius IX published The Syllabus of Errors, a powerful attack on liberalism, and its offspring socialism and communism, and on the power of the state, which is so easily corrupted, as we are witnessing.
The Syllabus also attacked the notion that might – in modern terms, political correctness – is right and pointed out that this invariably leads to persecution of people for their views.
Leaving aside the peculiar political realities of his day, which inspired the Syllabus, how right Pius IX proved to be about liberalism and its paradoxical passion for persecution – and its hatred of ordinary human beings.

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