Liberalism and its Discontents
4 April 2023
I've never been able to think of liberalism as a dirty word, despite its negative connotations in American politics. Liberal = Free. Or Liberal = Freeminded. Commited to freedom. Definitely not socialist. Perhaps that's why I've always enjoyed reading Francis Fukuyama, the man who famously declared the end of the Cold War was the end of history. A tad to optimistic, but aren't we all when we're young. Fukuyama's latest book, Liberalism and Its Discontents, is explicitly a defense of classical liberalism against those on the left and the right who would hijak it for more authoritarian projects. On the right there has been neoliberalism, rightfully a dirty word in Latin America where it has been an ideology used to prop up banana republics. When a few people have stolen nearly the entire country, then introducing property rights to protect that status quo is dishonest at best and totalitarian at worst. On the left the freedom for self-actualization morphed into a critque of rationality and the suppression of free speech. As always, Fukuyama is insightful and persuasive in his arguments. Definitely worth a read, like his other books I've read, Identity and Trust.
