The word “liberal” is noble and vexed, loved and hated. It is used by different kinds of people to refer to a wide constellation of worldviews, and it is denounced from many ideological directions. It also happens to be the word most worth fighting for at this moment — as an adjective. That is the thesis of what I believe will be the year’s most important political book, Michael Walzer’s “The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On ‘Liberal’ as an Adjective,” published last month. Approachably compact, it’s a volume that politicians and activists, students and academics, and citizens representing every creed should read, ponder and argue about.

Source: Washington Post March 13, 2023 12:20 UTC