The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On "Liberal" as an Adjective

[basquebromance]

“Liberal” now conveys not a specific ideology but a moral stance, so the word is best conceived not as a noun but as an adjective—one is a “liberal democrat” or a “liberal nationalist.”

liberalism is a universal set of values (it must be universal, since it is under attack everywhere), and those values are worth fighting for, so let's fight on this thread together, my friends!

Michael Walzer on Liberal as an Adjective - Democracy Paradox

Michael Walzer kicks off the three part episode arc on liberalism with a discussion of his new book The Struggle for a Decent Politics.

democracyparadox.com

 

[BackAgain]

Liberal — as a word — used to denote a world view which embraced equality and “fairness” and Justice and free thought and expression. It adhered, in those bygone days, to a belief that wrong thinking could be exposed best in a free arena of discussion.

But nowadays, the word “liberal” has developed new nuances and meanings. Whereas, in the past, a liberal might strongly contend that the goal of a just society would include the elimination of race as a factor in assessing any human being, nowadays, that concept is passé.

Liberals used to speak fondly of a “colorblind society.” Now, if I use that very phrase, some libs and progressives get angry and instead insist that we ought to be color conscious.

Nowadays, liberals believe not in free speech, but in outright censorship. Cancel culture is an example of liberal intolerance for the speech of other people.

Bottom line: if this discussion is to be productive, we might need to begin with securing some common definitions.

 

[g5000]

“Liberal” now conveys not a specific ideology but a moral stance, so the word is best conceived not as a noun but as an adjective—one is a “liberal democrat” or a “liberal nationalist.”

liberalism is a universal set of values (it must be universal, since it is under attack everywhere), and those values are worth fighting for, so let's fight on this thread together, my friends!

Michael Walzer on Liberal as an Adjective - Democracy Paradox

Michael Walzer kicks off the three part episode arc on liberalism with a discussion of his new book The Struggle for a Decent Politics.

democracyparadox.com

Once upon a time, people like me were called Classical Liberals.

Classical liberalism - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org