Sublime

Populist movements — on both the right and left — argue that liberalism has failed to deliver on its lofty ideals. Instead of liberty, equality, and prosperity, it has brought about widening inequality, the breakdown of traditional communities, and unchecked power for an elite class that is increasingly detached from ordinary people.

Modern liberalism has adopted the Jacobin spirit. Having dispensed with traditional moral norms, liberals have transformed the severe quality of conscience into a playpen of desire. Hav­ing denied a religious foundation for human rights, they have left individuals vulnerable to the despotic whims of the secular state. This outcome was predicted by

When I grew up in the 1970s and ’80s, the cardinal value of the middle class was stability. Most people had a fixed place in the world and defined themselves through what they were doing in life. As for today, being part of the middle class looks more like the main character in Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike: laboring during the day as a constructi

Liberalism’s old hegemony has ended but not yet been replaced by a new worldview. To command majority support, politics has to start with what most people value: family, friendship, locality, community and country.

Le premier risque des démocraties reste toutefois, comme l’avait prédit Tocqueville, leur décomposition intérieure sous la pression de l’individualisme, de la corruption de l’information, de la démagogie, de la fascination devant les hommes forts et la violence.

Ce qui offusque Hayek, c’est le fait que Wells associe le langage des droits à un programme de centralisation des décisions économiques. Le discours sur les droits ne peut selon lui coexister avec un contrôle étatique sur la production et le travail. Si des notions aussi vagues que le « bien-être commun » étaient amenées à prévaloir sur le droit d’