Not so long ago, many of the freedoms we now take for granted were in short supply. Monarchy reigned; its liberal opposition was scarce – relevant only in northwestern Europe, Britain, and her 13 backwater colonies. It was in this context that century-defining figures such as Thomas Jefferson and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, oriented on what was then considered the extreme flank of the Enlightenment, were known not just as liberal, but as radical. It was a term which illuminated the revolutionary premise on which those early advocates of political liberty founded themselves.
Nowadays, liberalism’s rep isn’t so extreme – it’s mostly known as the status quo. Most shockingly of all, people think it’s boring. Documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution; philosophers like Locke and Mill; all seem to provide answers to yesterday’s questions. Populist demagogues on the right and left alike have convinced the bulk of my generation that liberalism is, respectively, the sinister saboteur of culture, the lapdog of capital, or both. That’s a problem.
However much the monarchy-curious “New Right” and their allies in the White House want you to forget it, liberal democracy and constitutional republicanism are the foundations of America. Tamper with them, even a little? The whole thing comes crashing down.
Liberalism is not outdated. Especially not now, because the incumbent administration in the United States seems intent on re-creating those exact systems which the Enlightenment’s original liberals rebelled against in such conflicts such as the American and French Revolutions.
This is not hyperbole; it’s the political moment we live in. The basic assumptions of human freedom and equality undergirding historical liberalism are no longer ubiquitously held. To assume everyone shares by default is no longer tenable – perhaps it never was. Instead, we must actively fight for them. The moment has come for liberalism to assume the most uncompromisingly confrontational posture imaginable, for in its 21st-century struggle for survival, it can no longer afford anything less.
How can declining faith in democratic institutions surprise us? Liberals never taught the people to believe in democracy, after all: we took it for granted they would, then resigned ourselves to passive inaction. We failed; our opponents took advantage. How can we fix the sorry state of our civil society, unless our approach is as proactive as theirs?
What our current opposition lacks is an exciting, positive vision of the post-Trump future to rally around. For a nation of values like America, restoring faith to the cause of freedom and power to the hands of the common man have historically proven good places to start. So here’s the pitch. Liberals can and should reclaim the mantle of radicalism; should own with pride just how historically unique our ideals are. But first, there’s a problem:
Convictionless. Cowardly. Believing in nothing, and doing less. What do these remind you of? I’ll go first. Nowadays, these are the words I associate with the party once built on Thomas Jefferson’s grand vision.
Doesn’t seem very “radical” to you, does it? And yet, we’ve been gaslit into thinking they represent liberal values. To shocking contrast, the current Democratic Party seems addicted to ineffectual half-measures. Their supposed “opposition” is pathetic; their moderation in the face of doom is sickening. Their delusion that the overt and unapologetic assaults upon the law which presently transpire are in any way normal, that compromise is still an option, is so insulting an affront to the Constitution they claim to serve that history books will forever record their moral bankruptcy. The basic propositions of the American Revolution are at stake. And those purporting to defend them, despite talking the talk, do nothing to prove it when the rubber hits the road.
Before they can play a role in any real victory, they must improve. From ICE raids to war powers to government purges, the people deserve a legislature which responds to executive overreach not with timid acquiescence but resolute willingness to exercise the full supremacy of the law, and an opposition which responds to the most abominable violations of the Constitution in modern history with more than strongly worded letters. The Democratic Party must change. The object of this column is to work toward the discussion of how – and that’s a forum in which all of us should make our voices heard.
