So where does that leave the crisis of the liberal order that populism was supposed to bring upon us, both in America and Europe? One answer is that the crisis is still here, because the system of liberalism is failing, notwithstanding the ups and downs of its illiberal challengers. Where it once delivered equality, liberalism now offers plutocracy; instead of liberty, appetitiveness regulated by a surveillance state; instead of true intellectual and religious freedom, growing conformity and mediocrity. But my own response to “Why Liberalism Failed” was disappointment that its author did not go further. Surely if there is political life after liberalism, someone will need to step forward and do what the liberal philosophers did several centuries ago — invent the new order, describe the new ideals, urge the specific transformations that future leaders might achieve.

Source: New York Times January 13, 2018 19:30 UTC