I was glad to see that Gov.-elect Neil Abercrombie released money for selected social services. I am glad Hawaii liberalism is back in the statehouse.

During all elections since 1988, the Republicans successfully tarred Democrats with the shameful brush of liberalism. I wish the Dems had defended liberalism better. It’s such an easy case to make. Here is a short list of liberalism’s accomplishments:

» Representative government.
» Republicanism, that is to say, no kings — the people are sovereign.
» Idea of reform, and gradualism.
» The end of the slave trade, and then the end of slavery.
» The steady expansion of the voting franchise, from only white men with a certain amount of property, to white men of the middle class, to white men of the working class, to white women 28 and older, to white women 21 and older, and finally to people of color.
» In commerce, free enterprise in place of the heavy controls of mercantilism. Later, in promoting government regulation to keep the inherent selfishness of capitalism from getting out of hand.
» Improving conditions in factories, such as fencing dangerous machinery.
» Improving conditions in mines, including such a simple thing as facilities at the pit head where the miner could get clean before going home.
» Ending child labor in both factories and mines.
» Support of the trade union movement.
» Winning limits on the hours of the work week, from unlimited to 60 hours a week, to 48, to 44, to 40.
» Support of racial justice.
» Support of economic justice.
» Support of feminism.
» Support of gay rights.
» Opposition to abuse in all its forms.
» Protection of the environment (conservation).
» Public education.
» Public health.
» Birth control and family planning.
» Prison and punishment reform (ending routine flogging in the Army and Navy), and reducing the number of capital crimes from more than 200 to a handful, and now working on the elimination of capital punishment entirely.
» Humane treatment of the insane.
» The end of the worst forms of poverty.
» Old age insurance (Social Security).
» Disability insurance.
» Unemployment insurance.
» Health insurance.

These are all liberal programs. At the outset almost all were opposed by almost all conservatives.

At its best, conservatism preserves what is good, slows down change, restraining recklessness, giving us time to thoroughly consider, informed by what has been successful in the past. At its worst, conservatism is blind opposition to change, acting on the low impulse to restrict and deny, and maintain inequality, usually for economic reasons.

Of course, each of us is a mix of liberal and conservative. Liberals are conservative about a lot of things: fiscal policy, conserving natural resources, use of military force, to name a few.

Now there’s a strange and wonderful thing: The conservative of today accepts and honors — as conservative values — most of the triumphant liberal agenda. Each of those reforms I listed was opposed by the conservatives of that day. But today’s conservative, even the most reactionary, doesn’t want to bring back absolute monarchy, nor trade controlled by guilds, nor education controlled by priests or Puritan ministers and restricted to the sons of the gentry, nor limiting the vote to propertied white men, nor slavery, nor flogging soldiers. The list of things they don’t want to change includes most of the reforms instituted in the last 200 years.

Taking the long view, compared to the views of an 1810 rock-ribbed conservative, the views of a 2010 rock-ribbed conservative are mostly liberal. Conservatives get it right eventually. They’re just very slow adopters.