Liberalism

The 10 Basic Principles of the Liberal Political Order

Author: Juan Ramón Rallo

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📘 Introduction

🏛️ A Philosophical Defense of Individual Liberty

In Liberalism: The 10 Basic Principles of the Liberal Political Order, Juan Ramón Rallo offers a rigorous intellectual effort to restore liberalism to its original philosophical meaning. Not as a vague ideological label or a partial economic stance, but as a coherent doctrine founded on liberty as the supreme political value.

Rallo argues that liberalism is not a market theory or a mere opposition to the state. It is an ethical proposal on how power should be structured in society. And it starts from a central premise:

📜 "Liberalism is the recognition of the equal liberty of all individuals."

Based on this idea, the author develops 10 principles that define a political order where respect for individual autonomy is not a state-granted favor but an inviolable right. It is a framework designed to limit power, protect property, and ensure peaceful coexistence under general and abstract rules.

More than a technical proposal, this book is a moral defense of the individual against all forms of structural oppression.

📖 1 — “Primacy of Individual Liberty”

🧭 The Individual as the Core of Political Order

The first principle of liberalism, according to Rallo, is direct and uncompromising: individual liberty is the foundation of a just political order. No institution —not the state, not the community, not the democratic majority— can legitimately violate individual rights.

📜 "Every person has the right to live as they choose, as long as they do not coercively interfere with others."

Liberty is not a legal concession; it is a natural condition of human beings. Rallo emphasizes that liberalism is not result-oriented nor collectivist —it is about rules that ensure non-interference between individuals.

This principle rejects:

State paternalism.
Forced redistribution.
The subordination of individuals to the “common good”.

For liberalism, justice is not about equal outcomes, but equal respect for personal freedom.

🗝️ Key Points:

Liberty is an absolute political value.
The state must not impose collective ends.
Each person is an end in themselves — not a means to someone else's goals.

🗣️ Highlighted phrase:

"Liberalism recognizes the individual as the only legitimate sovereign over their own life."

📖 2 — “Private Property Rights”

🏠 Liberty Requires a Space of One’s Own

The second principle is the natural extension of the first: private property is the material expression of individual liberty.

To act freely —to build, exchange, create, and live— a person must have exclusive control over certain resources. In other words, they need property.

📜 "Without private property, there is no liberty —only dependence on whoever controls the resources."

Rallo explains that property rights don’t stem from historical accidents, but from a logical need to define spheres of individual action.

Without property, there can be no legal security, no personal planning, no real autonomy. Property is the institutional shield that protects individuals from arbitrary power.

He defends property as:

The legitimate result of mixing labor with natural resources.
A right that must be respected unless it violates others’ rights.
A moral basis that promotes productivity, cooperation, and spontaneous order.

🗝️ Key Points:

Property is an extension of liberty.
Taking property without consent is coercion.
Respecting property is the foundation of mutual respect.

🗣️ Highlighted phrase:

"Private property is the practical guarantee of individual liberty."

📖 3 — “Formal Equality Before the Law”

⚖️ Law as a Neutral Framework, Not a Tool of Power

For Rallo, liberal justice is not about equal outcomes —it is about universal rules applied equally to all, regardless of class, gender, ethnicity, or status.

📜 "The law must treat everyone equally because it protects everyone’s equal freedom."

Liberal equality is not material, but formal and legal. That means:

No one stands above the law —not even those who write it.

Laws must be general, abstract, and predictable.

They should not serve particular goals, but provide a stable framework of liberty for all.

Rallo firmly rejects the “welfare state” logic that compensates inequality through legal privileges. For liberalism, this destroys legal equality and turns the state into a tool for arbitrary redistribution.

🗝️ Key Points:

Law should protect, not direct.

Legal equality reflects human dignity.

Legal exceptions for certain groups erode freedom for everyone.

🗣️ Highlighted phrase:

"Liberalism demands that the law be a shield for all, not a sword for some."

📖 4 — “Voluntary Exchange and Free Contracts”

🤝 Freedom to Cooperate — or Not

Rallo explains that liberalism is a doctrine of peaceful cooperation, and such cooperation can only exist when relationships are free, voluntary, and contractual.

📜 "The market is not an imposition: it is the space where free wills meet."

For liberalism, voluntary exchange is:

A direct expression of individual liberty.

A source of social wealth through specialization and trade.

A guarantee that no one is forced to act against their will.

Contracts are the formal means of expressing this freedom: mutual agreements about how individuals choose to use their resources and time.

Rallo asserts that the state should not interfere in the terms of a contract, as long as both parties have consented, except to enforce or adjudicate them.

🗝️ Key Points:

Cooperation is superior to coercion.

Free contracts are the backbone of a just economy and society.

Arbitrary restrictions on trade violate freedom.

🗣️ Highlighted phrase:

📖 5 — “Limitation of Political Power”

🛡️ Government as Servant, Not Master

One of liberalism’s most essential principles is that political power must be limited by strict rules, not granted unchecked authority.

📜 "Liberalism distrusts power —even democratic power."

Rallo emphasizes that power's legitimacy does not stem from majority will, but from its respect for individual rights. Therefore, neither kings, parliaments, nor majorities have the right to violate a single person’s liberty.

This means:

Rule of law with separation of powers.

Governments subject to liberal constitutions.

Clear limits on taxation, regulation, and intervention.

Power should exist to protect liberty, not to impose collective ends or dominant ideologies. In a liberal society, the state intentionally limits itself so it doesn’t become a tyrant.

🗝️ Key Points:

All authority must be bound by universal rules.

Unchecked power corrupts.

The state should be strong in law —not in intervention.

🗣️ Highlighted phrase:

"Liberalism does not idolize the state —it restrains it to prevent it from devouring the individual."

📖 6 — “Individual Responsibility”

🎯 Owners of Our Actions — Not Victims of the System

Liberalism, Rallo explains, begins with a fundamental recognition: if each individual is free, then each must also be responsible for their choices. There is no liberty without responsibility.

📜 "You cannot claim the right to self-determination without accepting the consequences of your decisions."

This principle affirms that:

Each person is the primary agent of their own life.

The outcomes —good or bad— of our decisions belong to us.

Justice should neither punish success nor reward failure, but safeguard the framework in which free decisions produce fair consequences.

Rallo rejects institutionalized victimhood and paternalistic state intervention. The idea that the state must save us from ourselves is incompatible with liberty.

🗝️ Key Points:

Freedom and responsibility are inseparable.

No one should be forced to bear the burden of others' mistakes.

Liberalism honors moral maturity and self-determination.

🗣️ Highlighted phrase:

"To deny personal responsibility is to renounce personal liberty."

📖 7 — “Freedom of Association”

🔗 To Unite... Only by Choice

For liberalism, all forms of human association must arise from consent, not coercion. This applies to marriage, employment, religion, businesses, or even national identity.

📜 "Liberalism defends the right to associate —and the right not to."

The principle of free association means:

No one should be forced to belong to a group they reject.

All legitimate affiliation must be based on explicit consent.

The right to join is matched by the right to exit.

Rallo even applies this to the state: if a community peacefully chooses self-determination, it must be free to do so. He also supports the creation of new contractual forms of social cooperation, beyond traditional state models.

🗝️ Key Points:

Legitimate belonging is always voluntary.

Liberalism is incompatible with group coercion.

Free associations enrich society; forced ones corrupt it.

🗣️ Highlighted phrase:

"Freedom of association necessarily includes the freedom of dissociation."

📖 8 — “Tolerance Toward Difference”

🌈 Live and Let Live

Human diversity —in ideas, values, beliefs, and lifestyles— is not a threat to liberalism but a sign of a healthy, free society. Each person should be free to live as they choose, provided they don’t impose their choices on others.

📜 "Liberalism does not aim to homogenize society —it seeks peaceful coexistence among diverse ways of life."

According to Rallo, true tolerance does not mean approval, but respect for others’ freedom to be different. Liberalism defends:

The right to dissent.

Respect for moral autonomy.

A legal framework that protects pluralism without imposing enforced equality.

This is not relativism, but a conviction that no one has the right to enforce their truth by force.

🗝️ Key Points:

Tolerance is a liberal expression of mutual respect.

Agreement is not required for peaceful coexistence.

Diversity is the natural result of liberty.

🗣️ Highlighted phrase:

"Liberalism does not impose ways of life —it allows them."

📖 9 — “Peace as the Supreme Rule”

🕊️ No Liberty Without Nonviolence

For Rallo, peace is not merely a desirable condition, but a core principle of liberalism. Individual freedom can only flourish in a society where violence is banned as a tool for human interaction.

📜 "Every act of physical aggression or coercion is a denial of someone else’s liberty."

Liberal peace is more than the absence of war — it is the institutionalization of a legal order that prohibits force as a way to impose will.

This principle demands:

Rejecting the use of the state as a weapon for forced redistribution or ideological repression.

Condemning both private and institutional violence.

Replacing conflict with laws, contracts, and voluntary justice mechanisms.

A liberal society is one where disputes are resolved by dialogue and mutual agreement — not through force, even if it is democratically sanctioned.

🗝️ Key Points:

Without legal peace, there is no freedom or cooperation.

The use of force should be strictly limited to defending rights — never to enforce agendas.

Civilization begins when violence ends.

🗣️ Highlighted phrase:

"Peace is not an option in liberalism —it is its necessary condition."

📖 10 — “Epistemological Skepticism”

🧠 Humility in the Face of Knowledge and Power

The final principle captures liberalism’s intellectual humility: a deep skepticism toward any claim of possessing enough knowledge to plan society from the top down.

📜 "No individual, group, or government knows enough to direct the lives of millions."

Rallo draws from thinkers like Hayek and Mises, emphasizing that knowledge in society is dispersed, tacit, and ever-changing. That’s why liberalism does not impose a single model, but rather creates a space where individuals can experiment and learn within a fair legal framework.

This principle calls for:

Rejecting constructivist social engineering —the idea that society can or should be designed by technocrats.

Valuing the spontaneous order that emerges from free interaction.

Recognizing the limits of human reason and embracing general rules over centralized commands.

🧠 The liberal doesn’t say “I know what’s best for everyone,” but rather:
“No one knows what’s best for everyone. Let people discover it for themselves.”

🗝️ Key Points:

Human ignorance justifies the need to respect others’ freedom.

Social solutions should emerge —not be imposed.

Centralized power is often the face of intellectual arrogance.

🗣️ Highlighted phrase:

"Liberalism is born from a certainty: that no one knows everything."