The Virtues of Liberalism

Rating:
Summary: Interesting corrective to "rights" culture
Review: In a series of essays the author challenges the notion that historically the American polity is best described as rights-bearing individuals pursuing self-interests to the exclusion of other social and political considerations which is the very definition of classical liberalism. A major focus is on the religious and republican strands of thought that have been historically interwoven into our basically liberal culture and thereby makes our liberalism "virtuous."

Duty and responsibility to the larger community have always been a part of Christian and moral thought. Adam Smith, often invoked by present-day free-marketeers, was a Scottish moral philosopher who saw the market as a means to broader social goods. Christianity has often emphasized the essential equality and brotherhood of men and the requirement of participating in the life of the community.

Republicanism is usually associated with public-spirited, independent, virtuous citizens who view centralized power as corrupting. The Jeffersonian small, land-owning farmer epitomizes the republican virtuous citizen which accounts for the early American fear of the rise of manufacturing because the factory system created a class of dependent laborers.

In other words, the author maintains that our political philosophy has always been a juggling act balancing the liberal basics of freedom versus duty to the community and of self-interests or wealth accumulation versus equality.

According to the author, pragmatism, a philosophy often associated with John Dewey, is the approach to take in making political or social decisions. It is a philosophy that eschews absolutes and depends largely on actual social experiences to arrive at solutions and accommodates our various strands of political thought. It is a democratic philosophy because it is collective experience as articulated by citizens as opposed to prescriptions by experts that is sought.

The author acknowledges that the "virtues" of liberalism have largely faded from public speech. Citizens have become mostly independent, rights-bearing entities without community obligations. Consumerism is the operant ideology. The author's calls for communities of democratic deliberation would seem to have no place in present-day culture. In addition, the recognition that communications is fundamental to a democracy generates only fleeting comments concerning the power of ever-consolidating media giants to limit and manipulate public speech and ideas.

The essays written at different times do have some overlap. Furthermore, there is some drift and shifts in the subjects and arguments across the essays. However, overall the essays are interesting. The views of numerous historical actors and authors as they relate to virtuous liberalism are presented: Madison, Jefferson, Tocqueville, William James, Weber, Dewey, Lippman, FDR, Rorty, Habermas, Sandel, and Rawls among others.