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July 27, 2011

Re: The Tyranny of Liberalism

Topics: Political News and commentaries

Written by lawyer and writer James Kalb, The Tyranny of Liberalism - Understanding and Overcoming Administered Freedom, Inquisitorial Tolerance, and Equality by Command, was published in 2008 - before Barack Obama took office to "fundamentally transform America" ... rushing liberalism's tyranny to the forefront of politics in our nation and making Kalb's points all the more relevant.

Kalb's book appears to have stemmed from an essay he wrote as far back as 2000 ... at which time a slightly edited version of the preceding essay found at Turnabout thoughts in and out of season, originally entitled "Liberalism, the Transcendent, and Restoration," appeared in the Summer 2000 issue of Modern Age. According to Kalb, the development of liberalism has reversed its original principles. Rather than let society control the state, a more ambitious liberalism now makes the state control society. In spite of claims of neutrality, liberalism establishes an enforceable official morality that supports a definite way of life. The rational way beyond liberalism is to discuss the questions it avoids and cannot answer. Intellectually, liberalism cannot survive their free discussion. Once liberalism goes, what then? Ultimately, we're in God's hands.

Here's an excerpt from the essay to pique your interest:

[...] The disappearance of the radical left is a sign that in principle it has reached its attainable goals. While no one admits it, what we see around us is the victory of the Revolution.

Politics today is radically secularist and antiparticularist. It aims to dissolve what is left of traditional society and construct a universal form of human association that will constitute a technically rational system for the equal satisfaction of desire. Religion is to be banished from public life, ethnic and gender distinctions abolished, and a worldwide order established, based on world markets and trans-national bureaucracies, that is to override local differences in the name of human rights, international economic development, and collective security.

Contemporary liberalism expresses and supports that new order. Not all members of our ruling elites adhere to liberalism, and it draws support from outsiders as well. However, our elites determine its content, and it promotes their interests. It sets the terms of discussion, defines what is considered progress, and establishes the general principles of cooperation upon which our elites base their claim to rule.

Supporters of the new order see it as historically and morally necessary, and thus as compulsory regardless of established views and habits. Since modern governments claim to base themselves on consent, the public must be brought to accept it. Managing opinion and keeping perspectives that oppose fundamental public policies out of mainstream discussion have therefore become basic to statecraft.

Genuine opposition comes not from the left but from reactionary and restorationist groups that exclude themselves from respectable politics by rejecting liberalism and the left. Todays dissidents are particularist -- traditionalist, fundamentalist, populist, or nationalist. Beyond that, they are antisecularist and antihedonist. They reject a system of politics that bases social order on human desire, because they reject the view that lies behind it, that men make morality for their own purposes.

Today all things are justified on the grounds that they help men get what they want. Those who recognize an authority superior to human purposes are seen as dangerous bigots who want to oppress others in the name of some sect or arbitrary principle. As a consequence, fundamental political discussion no longer exists. Politics today is divided between an outlook that presents itself as rational and this-worldly, and absolutely dominates public discussion, and a variety of dissident views that speak for goods higher than human desire but are unable to make effective their substantial underlying support. The conflict is never discussed seriously since it is considered resolved; the ruling liberal view is accepted as indisputable, while dissent is considered confused or worse. ...

It's worth your time to read the whole thing.

As relevant and important as Kalb's piece was in the summer of 2000, it's even much more so today. Kalb goes on to say that a rational way beyond liberalism and the tyranny it forces upon us is to discuss the questions it avoids and cannot answer. Intellectually, liberalism cannot survive their free discussion; a function of "political correctness" and the centralization of intellectual life is to keep them from arising. Both modern communications technology and the liberal demand for free expression make it difficult to suppress such questions altogether, however. When the practical strains on liberal society become severe enough the intellectual flaws of liberalism will begin to tell. As a self-contained system poorly rooted in reality, liberalism could fall apart like Soviet Communism or the one-horse shay of New England Calvinism.

Let's hope and pray he's right. Our nation, freedom, and liberties are at stake.

Readers will find an excellent review of Kalb's book at the Amerika weblog.

... instead of viewing liberalism as a political concern, or a sociological one, viewing it as a psychological one; in other words, accepting that psychologies are not equal and not all are motivated by the same desires. Unlike any other writer, Kalb cuts through the fog of layers of explanation and shows us the raw power struggle underneath.

... More than a narrative based on the coming conflict between reality and liberalism, this book is a cookbook of arguments against the various pillars holding liberalism aloft. While it provides quality information in every chapter, it also makes for a good read, as Kalb expertly diagnosis the human disorder and illustrates the coming conflict between reality and liberalism.

For more of Kalb's writings, Visit his website here.

Posted by Richard at July 27, 2011 7:11 AM

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