THE STRUGGLE FOR A DECENT POLITICS

A stirring defense of liberalism as the political stance best suited to democracy.

One can be all sorts of things politically and be a liberal, according to Walzer’s definition of liberalism as enfolding moral qualities: “We are, or aspire to be, open-minded, generous, and tolerant.” One can be a conservative and embrace them; ditto a libertarian, although, as the author notes, “radical individualism and equality are rarely seen together in these latter days, and I am not sure they fit together in what we used to call the real world.” What one cannot be is totalitarian—or racist, antisemitic, homophobic, etc. Walzer’s definitions tend to be broad and encompassing. Democracy, in one formulation, has as its aim “to create a political order where the greatest number of people, when everyone is counted, actually govern the country.” That is, of course, with all the checks and balances that guard against majoritarian tyranny and that preserve civil society—“where men and women choose their friends, colleagues, comrades, and fellows.” A liberal can also be a socialist, so long as the socialism one espouses is not a true dictatorship of the proletariat and is arrived at democratically. Indeed, Walzer writes after having considered all these permutations, “Liberal nations are…ideologically pluralist; their members are monarchists and republicans, libertarians and socialists, conservatives and radicals.” By the author’s account, America is exceptional only in its self-regard and sanctimony. He notes, wryly, “right-wing French politicians do not accuse French communists of engaging in un-French activities.” America is also exceptional in being a democracy that harbors many enemies of democracy, ranging from religious orthodoxies to political parties that stand opposed to the “decency and truth” that liberalism encompasses and that occasion “the most important political battles of our time.”

A spirited, broad-ranging case for liberalism and against its populist and nationalist discontents.