Dark Passions, Democratic Politics, and the Liberal Spirit

Once a fighting creed, the liberal spirit in America now fights for its life while drawing heavy fire from both sides. Leading intellectuals on the left attack the liberal spirit for conspiring with reactionary forces to preserve racism, sexism, and other forms of inequality and oppression. Prominent figures on the right blast it for fostering selfishness and hedonism, dissolving authority, eroding community, dismantling the family, undermining the nation, and preaching atheism. Neither camp comes close to appreciating the liberal spirit’s role in sustaining the American experiment in ordered…