35. The Papacy and Liberalism

Like any principle that is correct in itself, this one can of course also be interpreted incorrectly and thus cause untold harm. Indeed, not much can be said about the introduction of the true form of this principle into practical life. For it is easy to make the mistake that by establishing the maxim of following only one's own inner self, any assertion of subjective arbitrariness, of purely individual striving, is justified. But this necessarily leads to arbitrariness standing against arbitrariness, subjective interests against subjective interests, and finally to a struggle of all against all, a "struggle for existence", in which not only the stronger wins against the weaker, but the dishonest against the honest, the dishonest against the friend of truth. This is what the principle of freedom has really come to in recent decades, and what is commonly referred to today as liberalism is this distorted image of the modern spirit. It is sad, but unfortunately only too true, that here an originally correct view has led to the hideous system of exploitation of the individual by the individual. It is only a pity that this stock market liberalism has been so long at large, for it is only because it has blinded the minds to everything that truly bears the name of freedom that many otherwise not insignificant men have turned away from the liberal movement and thrown themselves into the arms of reaction. Now, fortunately, the death knell of that pseudo-liberalism no longer seems far away.