My Review of Adrian Woodridge's "The Revolutionary Center"

Liberalism Under Siege

Adrian Wooldridge, formerly political editor of The Economist and now an opinion columnist at Bloomberg, has offered up a history of liberal political thought from Montesquieu to John Stuart Mill and on to Hayek, Keynes, and Friedman. That liberalism faces attacks to today from the authoritarian Right and the identitarian Left reminiscent of the 1930’s. (See: https://shulmaven.blogspot.com/2023/11/reliving-1930s-part-5.html ) And it goes without saying that the concept of free speech is now under a withering assault. Wooldridge wants to reclaim liberalism’s revolutionary history that brought freedom and prosperity to much of the world. Thus, you can call him a revolutionary centrist, and the world truly needs hm today.

 

For whatever reason, too many people have abandoned the basic tenets of liberalism which include freedom of thought, a free market, room for heterodox views and the removal of obstacles to self-development. In short, Wooldridge believes in a meritocracy that offers a ladder up for those folks who have been left behind.

 

In terms of government liberalism stands for the separation of powers as articulated by the U.S. Constitution. He quotes Lord Acton about power corrupting, and we are getting a real-life lesson with the antics of Donald Trump.

 

Wooldridge sees three strands of liberalism today. The first being neoliberalism with its faith in markets to solve society’s problems. Second, managerial liberalism, which is characterized by an elite consensus coming out of Davos, the universities, and the NGOs. The third form is progressive liberalism which exalts rights over responsibilities especially for groups. I would not call this liberalism.

 

Wooldridge offers political solutions reanimating liberalism. He moves to the right and the left at the same time by calling for higher taxes, antitrust enforcement of the tech companies, immigration restrictions, and a return to merit-based admissions to the universities. He also doesn’t believe that Muslim fundamentalism is compatible with liberalism. If the Muslim population of Europe can’t be integrated into the broader society Europe will (is) be in a world of hurt.

 

To me the solution is in governing, not only in making political compromises as necessary as they are. In order for liberalism to succeed, it has to govern successfully. That means a wholesale repudiation of the “blue model” that now governs most of America’s large cities. The high tax-low service model of the blue cities and today’s U.K. for example, is forcing voters to move towards the authoritarian right and to the socialist left in the U.S.

 

We are living in a time where the horseshoe theory of politics holds as both the right, and the left ending up in opposition to the liberal order that has served us well for of these years. It is a real shame, and it is very disheartening. Wooldridge points us a way out of this malaise.

My Amazon Review of Thomas Ricks' "First Principles:............"

 

The Noblest Romans of America

 

Military affairs writer Thomas Ricks discusses how Greco-Roman classical thought underpinned the political philosophy of our first four presidents.  College educated Adams, Jefferson and Madison understood Latin and Greek and to them the voices of Cato, Cicero and Cincinnatus were not ancient history, but current in their thoughts. Though not college educated, Washington absorbed the culture by osmosis and perhaps he was the noblest Roman of them all. For it was he, just like Cincinnatus who fought the war and then returned to his farm.

 

For all of them the models for a republic came from Greece and Rome. To be sure both were republics of the elite and both rested on the work of slaves, which is pretty much how we ended up in 1789. Nevertheless, the watchword for both was “virtue,” meaning civic virtue by placing the public good over private interest. This is a far cry from Donald Trump’s Washington, and it was, in fact, Trump’s election that prompted Ricks to write this book.

 

The ideas of the ancient world were tempered by the writings of Montesquieu (“Spirit of Laws” 1748) and the Scottish enlightenment writings of David Hume and Adam Smith. It was Madison’s genius to harness private interests in the service of classical virtue in writing the constitution.

 

Ricks has suggestions as to our world of today can utilize the thoughts of the classics. He notes that the Founders would be shocked as to the role money plays in our politics thereby creating an all-powerful oligarchy. That is true, but I would I argue that the Founders would also be shocked by the size and scope of the federal government. With the stakes so high, it is only natural that money has flooded into our politics.

 

Ricks has given us another view into the thoughts of our founder. Although a bit long-winded in spots his book is well worth the read.

For the full Amazon URL see: The Noblest Romans of America (amazon.com)