Is there a liberal crisis?

Discussion in 'Political Science' started by MrCritic, Nov 13, 2016.

  1. MrCritic

    MrCritic Newly Registered

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  2. Seleucus

    Seleucus New Member

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    I'm not sure the question is answerable. It presumes you can define liberal and conservative, and then sub-divisions thereof, to everyone's satisfaction, so that we know what we are talking about.

    Even if we agree on what the proper tenants of liberalism might be, the definition only holds for a short time. A liberal in the 1890s, 1950s and today might have similar core values, but the issues which he would cite as practical implications and applications of his liberalism would be very different, because the world in which the liberal values are to be applied has changed.

    A philosophy is convincing and relevant - or not - only in a given and place. If there is a crisis in liberalism currently, it is because its core tenets (again, assuming we agree on what they are) don't seem useful or applicable to modern-day problems. When that happens, schisms appear among adherents. Thus, Dan Mees, whom you quote, makes a distinction between "true liberals" who respect "official values" [ huh? ] and the "regressive left". In my view, his arguments (where I can even understand them), appear to be about as logical as those of early Christian bishops who fell out over "whether Jesus was of the same substance as God the Father or merely of similar substance".

    Personally, I avoid labels like "liberal". My observation of history is that "isms" are simplistic and pernicious. They get adopted and entered in the history books whenever and wherever they appear to explain and maybe address the social issues of the day, all too often with violent results:
    - Bolsheviks succeeded in Russia in 1918 because Marxism-Leninism made the working class in Russia feel their poverty was somebody else's fault - the capitalists; kill them and all will be well.
    - Nazism appealed to many Germans because it explained why their country was in a mess and they lost a war - the Jewish saboteurs; kill them and all will be well.
    - Islamic extremism appeals to its adherents because it gives a plausible explanation for the failures of some Islamic states - a West is at war with Islam; counter-attack and all will be well.

    The world would be enormously better off if we all stuck to solving practical problems for which their are clear solutions, and not invent or adopt vague philosophies that offer simple - and all too often dangerous - over-arching explanations for life.
     

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