This is an important book, but it is a book on political theory/history with the emphasis on the theory. Political theory or political philosophy has a tendency to become too abstract. This is compounded by the fact that its key terms are endlessly debated (just like the key terms of other branches of philosophy). Hence, we need lots of concrete examples to keep us on the straight and narrow and to keep the argument clean and clear. Here there are a number of examples but never enough for me. I had to focus very carefully on individual sentences and paragraphs to insure that I knew what, precisely, he was saying. Even then there were points at which the reasoning became hazy.
The overall argument is straightforward. Both modern and classical liberalism are about liberty but they are about radically different ideas of liberty. In antiquity (and for much of western thought) liberty turns on virtue. To be free and to enjoy liberty is to have control of one's appetites. Otherwise, you are enslaved by those appetites, desires and drives. That means constraining yourself and disciplining yourself. We receive help in this process from institutional structures and cultural traditions. 'Mores' and customs—so important, e.g., for Tocqueville play an important role here. Modern (i.e. post 17th-c) liberalism is just the opposite. It entails the ability to pursue all of one's desires and it is, basically, license. This is the liberalism that has failed us and the unchained sexuality which it promotes has taken us to Sodom and Gomorrah, not to utopia and certainly not the city of God. In combination with the satisfaction of other material desires (basically, consumerism) we have found ourselves within a soulless society where individuals are lonely and wracked by anomie and alienation. So long as we pursue this course we will become increasingly frustrated, lonely and lost. Since the human imagination (as Samuel Johnson pointed out) can always conceive of more and more things to be desired we can never really be satiated. For Johnson we must find our stability in the truth and in faith, recalling Augustine's famous comment that our hearts are restless until they rest in God.
The most active area for modern liberalism has been the area of sexuality (always the first chain to be cast off, as Blake notes) and it has left us with a world of pornography, delayed or disregarded family formation, out-of-wedlock births, and so on. The world of the hookup is a lonely one.
Related to the 'liberation' with regard to sexuality is the desire to control nature. Men who feel as if they are women can actually attempt to become women. The author locates the beginning of this process with Bacon (very important for the progressive liberal, Dewey) who advocates the control and exploitation of nature. This is ultimately in conflict with human nature, the author argues, and he looks instead to a writer like Wendell Berry who traces many of our social ills to our detachment from nature. This control of nature/modern liberalism connection is probably the least developed section of the book, though many points are made. The author is very concerned, e.g., about global warming and the despoiliation of nature and sees it in parallel with the endless indebtedness incurred by the government to satisfy our desires for instant gratification and to keep any thoughts of sacrifice or personal discomfort at a distance.
He sees Mill as another principal culprit in the development of modern liberalism and argues that the founding fathers were themselves complicit in ultimately arguing for a strong central government which would be distant from the people and undercut the kinds of local associations that were so important to Tocqueville and his understanding of the essential American character. Many would dispute this particular argument (re: the founders and the Federalist papers), but he develops it in some detail.
Bottom line: a thoughtful book, largely but not exclusively conservative in its thrusts, arguing for a new localism, a new agrarianism and perhaps even for a new Benedictine model (via Rod Dreher). It is always provocative and it would make a great 'common read' for newly-matriculated college students (though its very title would doubtless disqualify it, despite the nuanced nature of the argument).
Highly recommended.
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- Mick McManusReviewed in Australia on December 30, 2023
Understanding the infectious disease inflicting the West: Modern Liberalism
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2020
A troubling and prescient read
