One would think, after the 09/11 attacks against the world trade center and the pentagon, a liberal wouldn't believe in retaliation against Afghanistan because that would constitute perpetrating harmful acts. However the attacks of 09/11 were meant to cause terror, which is also considered a harmful act and god forbid that should ever happen to the United States. The goal of a classical liberal government is to give its people individual freedom, equal opportunity, and individual rights which includes keeping its people safe and preventing them from being harmed. Classical liberalism dates back 400 years ago and is a European rooted system. An example of an ideology of classical liberalism is that based on the premise that humans and chimps are ninety eight percent identical the two percent difference between the two, is that we have the capacity to reason and that we act in self-interest. This self-interest drives us to pursue individual freedom, and happiness. In classical liberalism the obstacles to individual freedom are: Each other-we have a social contract with each other, Government, Religious conformity-religious beliefs are private, Poverty, Prejudice- not moving on from the past, Ignorance-not knowing. The key to liberalism is that your pursuit of happiness doesn't block anybody else's. The idea is equality of opportunity. In liberalism all men are created equally. A liberal can be whatever he/she wants to be, but also following the guidelines above. Liberalism promotes a level playing field.
When the 09/11 attacks occurred the rights and safety of the people of this country were violated and being that the roles of the government as far as the classical liberal ideology is concerned are: Protection - to protect each individual form being harmed or feeling like they"re being harmed, which would block their pursuit of happiness. Also the Justice System - which is a role of government is supposed to play a huge part.
