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H. E. Baber's avatar

Liberalism is liberation from Nature--from race, sex, tribe, family, and all natural affiliations that undermine desire-satisfaction, which alone is of intrinsic value. Liberalism is inimical to communitarianism, the idea that our culture is somehow part of us rather than a constraint that prevents us from being the people we are and getting what we want. Liberal societies maximize individual desire-satisfaction as distinct from traditional societies in which the life one lives is largely determined by sex, family of origin, social position and other unchosen conditions. Liberalism is ultra-individualistic, recognizing persons as social atoms fighting to achieve what they want in a Hobbesian war zone with the state adjudicating in the interests of achieving the greatest good for the greatest number. The state liberates us from the natural conditions that undermine desire-satisfaction by economic redistribution and by anti-discrimination regulations, including affirmative action, that prevent others from putting us in our 'natural' places.

PLI is insidious--conservatism made respectable. Yeah, yeah the DEI departments and 'trainings' are bs. And, yeah, Western Civiliation, the humanities, and Great Books are a good thing. But when it gets down to brass tacks I know very well was it all means: it means I can't get what I want or avoid what I don't want. Without the state enforcing anti-discrimination regulations and affirmative action my prospects would have been at best secretarial. The bottom line is that these conservative policies restrict the power of the state to liberate us from natural constraints.

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Eamonn Toland's avatar

As a defender of liberalism I found Emily’s article to be Whiggish and naive. Categorising a heterogeneous set of critiques as the PLI (splitters) does not do justice to their objections. The free exchange of ideas has often objectively retarded progress. That doesn’t make it worse than the alternative. The invention of the printing press allowed superstitious fears about witchcraft to gain traction in the Renaissance, after a thousand year hiatus. Economic incentives led the colony of Georgia, which included much of modern day Alabama and Mississippi, to overturn an absolute ban on slavery that had lasted for decades. The theory of evolution rapidly led to the concepts of eugenics and social Darwinism which underpinned the intellectual justification for the holocaust and the starvation of millions of Soviet PoWs. The free contestation of ideas doesn’t always work. Progressive policies can often unnecessarily constrain individual liberty and also erode community ties. We do need to think seriously about demographic change, and the balance of rights. Despite that, liberalism is worth fighting for.

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