The Liberals’ Conundrum

In his most recent Wall Street Journal column William A. Galston posts a manifesto of sorts:

I am a liberal because I believe that the liberal understanding of what needs to be done is preferable to the conservative understanding. But as a liberal, I must remain open to the possibility that the evidence will prove me wrong. I believe that many conservatives share this view.

Recall the words of Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address: “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Reagan never said that government would be the wrong response to every future crisis. He spoke of the problems the country faced as he took office 40 years ago.

As a liberal, I believe that government inspired by past successes but chastened by past failures is essential for addressing the crises of the present. I don’t see how the equal protection of the laws can be guaranteed to all without government action that secures rights and rights wrongs. I don’t see how opportunity can be equal without a government that guarantees education and training for all and ensures that discrimination doesn’t close the doors of opportunity for some. I do not see how the general welfare can be promoted without collective action to abate ills that individuals acting on their own cannot address.

Government doesn’t always mean the federal government. Nor does it mean government alone. It means levels of government, often in partnership with private industry and civil society. As a new president takes office, how best to do this is the debate we should be having.

I find that the views expressed above are pretty congruent with my own. Not identical, certainly, but not completely incompatible, either. I consider myself neither a liberal nor a conservative although both liberalism and conservatism inform my views. Perhaps it has escaped Mr. Galston’s notice but nearly all liberals are over 70 and most are over 80. Progressives are not liberals. Just to cite a one example of the difference, you will struggle to find favorable mentions of subsidiarity, the notion that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. Quite to the contrary progressives tend to favor government action by the federal government preferentially. Who supports a truly Canadian-style single payer system administered and supported by the states? Not progressives, certainly.

While I’m on the subject, conservatives are few and far between these days as well. Now they’re called “paleocons” with most in their 70s or 80s.

Back to the subject “the Woke” are emphatically not liberals, either. They’re not even progressive. They don’t control the reins of power in the Democratic Party (yet) but they’re certainly getting the bulk of the attention these days and may well hold the “commanding heights” of the political discourse through their influence in universities, the media, and large technology firms.

Maybe I’m seeing something that isn’t there in Mr. Galston’s piece but I catch a small scent of the dog who caught the car in it. I’ll return to that in my next post.