Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Western-style liberalism “dead” and “no longer tenable.”\u00a0 Donald Trump seemed eager to agree, though maybe because he thought that the reference was to left-wingers on the West Coast. What are ordinary Americans to think, after years of being urged to use the word “Liberal” as an all-purpose invective, like “coward” or ”traitor?” Can we finally do away with those pests who are always taxing us and nagging about the rights of others?<\/p>\n
What is liberalism anyway?\u00a0 It was that emphasis on the individual that led to our nation’s founding, for one thing. The emerging world view was no longer exclusively top-down.\u00a0 Just as ordinary human beings could now investigate the workings of the Universe, the Divine Right of Kings gave way to “the consent of the governed.”\u00a0 The principles that Americans proudly boast about defending today are the liberal values — freedom of speech and religion, equality under the law,\u00a0 We’ve had them for so long that conservatives regard themselves as the inventors, but it’s not so: Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations” is a seminal liberal document, envisioning an economy controlled not by an aristocracy but by the actions of individuals.<\/p>\n
This initial up-ending of the old order, two and a half centuries ago, did not meet with complete consensus.\u00a0 Many expected that a “natural” social hierarchy would persist.\u00a0 The gradual inclusion of women and minorities has been a shock to some.\u00a0 The work of liberalism in the 20th Century — extending promised rights to those who had been left out at the beginning, preventing exploitation — was unpopular with many who hoped to hold on to old privileges.<\/p>\n
The features of liberalism that Putin holds up as problematic — a weakening of the old social order, the cost of providing fairness, the difficulty of controlling the actions of those who may seem to be a threat — have become popular targets here in the United States as well.\u00a0 They’re being used in many parts of the world to argue for authoritarianism.\u00a0 But it’s a mistake to think that you can get rid of the thorns and keep the roses. No aspect of real democracy is useful to the autocrat.\u00a0 Freedom of the press is often the first to go.\u00a0 We are becoming friendly with regimes that are not shy about murdering journalists.\u00a0 An industry has grown up devoted to making sure that facts are less powerful than fiction. There are concerted efforts to keep segments of the population from being represented.\u00a0 Governmental power is being used to advance a particular party.\u00a0 The judiciary is not immune.<\/p>\n
Some may imagine that the end of liberal democracy means the end of big government, but the result won’t be a Libertarian paradise, just a ruler with fewer, richer people to answer to.\u00a0 Others may expect that the new repression will be a particular kind that they themselves favor; but they forget that their own ideologies may not always be in fashion.<\/p>\n
Even as we pay tribute to the heroes of D-Day, seventy-five years ago, world leaders are again toying with the language and symbolism of Fascism.\u00a0 That’s what a modern world, free of liberal ideals, is going to look like.<\/p>\n
Scott C. McKee\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0July 4, 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Western-style liberalism “dead” and “no longer tenable.”\u00a0 Donald Trump seemed eager to agree, though maybe because he thought that the reference was to left-wingers on the West Coast. What are ordinary Americans to think, after years of being urged to use the word “Liberal” as an all-purpose invective, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":19,"menu_order":11,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-718","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwenda.com\/PointedText\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwenda.com\/PointedText\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwenda.com\/PointedText\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwenda.com\/PointedText\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwenda.com\/PointedText\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=718"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/mwenda.com\/PointedText\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":736,"href":"https:\/\/mwenda.com\/PointedText\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/718\/revisions\/736"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwenda.com\/PointedText\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwenda.com\/PointedText\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}