Peter Berkowitz wrote a fascinating article in Policy Review earlier this year: The Liberal Spirit in America. It's about so much that it's difficult to know where to begin describing it. Indeed, some of you may find it too dense and layered--I had to try three times to get through it. But by the time I was finished, I was most impressed.
Basically, it's about the classic liberal and conservative impulses, the way they often get misidentified, and, most importantly, the severe challenges that the modern world presents to both--challenges which simply didn't exist prior to the mid-20th century or so.
As Moe notes, Berkowitz brilliantly points out how both the progressive and conservative traditions, paradoxically, work in different ways to preserve, extend, but also possibly destroy, our liberal traditions. (Thanks for yet another terrific link, Moe.
Excellent article - as an aside:
"Who opposes representative institutions, separated powers, an independent judiciary, a free press, and legal guarantees of freedom of belief, speech, and associations?"
In the United States, this would be the Greens most prominently.
For the main thrust of the article, it cannot be denied that we are all liberals in the sense that we are all in favor of liberty - as also pointed out, its in the definition of liberty that we find our differences.
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