In his instructive political fable, The Awakening of Jennifer Van Arsdale, George Leef writes, “Liberalism is the one philosophy that requires no enemies… It minimizes conflict and calls upon people to resolve whatever problems arise through peaceful means.”
By liberalism, Leef refers to the 17th-century movement that began to free individuals from entrenched interests, “from the constraints of the powerful institutions that dominated their lives—the interests of monarchs and church leaders and guilds.”