Back	Liberalism Defined

Five hallmarks of liberalism

that individuals possess universal and inalienable natural rights;

that “liberty of conscience is every man’s natural right” (as John Locke put it), and that freedom of religion is fundamental to a just and peaceable society;

that freedom of expression is paramount, as free debate is inseparable from the process of government by reason, and to all human individual and social progress;

that self-rule is the pinnacle of just and enlightened government, and that freedom of association and assembly is integral to political liberty;

that the rights of the individual supersede the will of the collective, and all citizens are equal before the law;

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