Liberalism is architecturally unstable. It is a massive edifice that has been slowly, intentionally, and, by design, built without concern for its foundation. It has been built on the assumption that a stable, prosperous, and free society can allow “incentives to do the work of morals”—and that assumption is wrong.
—Brian Dijkema on economist Samuel Bowles (and also channeling Michael Sandel)
Serious people are saying this, not just Christian zealots.
Patrick Deneen appears to be saying it, in a book I need to read. And his title, at least, says that liberalism has already failed, not that it is unstable.
My favorite essay on the theme of the emptiness and foundationlessness of liberalism, my favorite essay of any kind and for all time, is Stanley Fish’s “Why We Can’t All Just Get Along” (First Things, Feb. 1996).
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