I’m reading a book right now called “Why Liberalism Failed.” It’s controversial and fascinating, so I might write a couple of these “TIL” posts about it, but for today I want to focus on one specific part: the story of how liberalism—one of the three major ideologies of the 20th century, the other two being fascism and communism—became a thing.
(But first, a quick definition of the term “liberalism”: in this context we’re not using it to refer to American left wing progressivism, the way Sean Hannity does. Instead, we’re talking about the overall system of democratic capitalism that both Democrats and Republicans basically agree with. You may have heard of it referred to as “classical liberalism” before.)
So, where does our modern idea of liberalism come from?
Patrick Deenan (a professor at Notre Dame, and the author of this book) points to three major philosophic milestones:
1. Machiavelli
Citizens of ancient Greece and Rome didn’t put much stock in “checks and balances” or “rule of law” to prevent tyrants from consolidating power and ruining the polis. Instead, they believed the only way to preserve individual liberty was to instill virtue in every (white, male) citizen. Instead of just punishing wrong-doing, they put a big premium on building a culture that encouraged citizens to reach for something higher. (I suspect the phrase “living your best life” would have an entirely different meaning to them.)
Machiavelli changed all this. Looking back at the failures of Greece and Rome to create lasting democracies, he encouraged us to never base our thinking on “imaginary republics and principalities that have never existed in practice and never could,” because “the gap between how people actually behave and how they ought to behave is so great that anyone who ignores everyday reality in order to live up to an ideal will soon discover that he has been taught how to destroy himself, not how to preserve himself” (from The Prince, chapter XV).
It didn’t happen overnight (obviously), but this potshot at Plato’s Republic eventually morphed into our modern belief that “incentives matter” and in the case of governance, to let “ambition counteract ambition” rather than relying on virtue.
Thus the first pillar of liberalism was laid in place.
2. Locke
Traditional societies made no distinction between church, state, and culture. It was just one monolithic entangled system that structured our lives. Some elements are pretty universal and basic (like that you shouldn’t kill or steal) but others are sort of specific and one might say arbitrary (like not eating meat on Fridays, or wearing special hats).
A basic fact about human nature is that people have trouble letting other people just do their thing. They worry that if you let in a new group of people that likes to do things differently, eventually they will “take over” and force you to go along with them. This has happened lots of times throughout history (and is still happening today), but back in 1689 the issue was whether it was OK for lots of Catholics to do their thing in the mostly-Protestant country of England.
Enter Locke—one of the first to argue for the unbundling of church and state. He believed that religious conflict wasn’t actually caused by citizens fighting with each other, he thought the real source of the problem was when the government tried to stop certain people from practicing their religion.
So he said: “if the government would basically just stop doing that, then things would be much better for everyone.” (Not a real Locke quote).
Thus the second pillar of liberalism was laid in place.
3. Bacon
For the vast majority of human history, Nature was taken as a given. Something to work around. Not something you could control.
Sure, advancements like agriculture and sailing came along every once in awhile, but mostly it was safe to assume that there is very little you could do to improve your circumstances. To cope with the various struggles of life, the only solution offered by popular philosophies like Stocism and Christianity was “acceptance.” (Lord give me the strength.)
Francis Bacon saw things differently. He realized that it was possible to gain control over nature. How much control? Nobody knows. The only way to find out is to explore!
This is how the scientific method was born.
Now, when we detect a problem, whether it’s in the realm of natural or social science, we assume there must be some way to solve it. This idea of constant progress is new, and fundamental to our current way of living.
Thus the third pillar of liberalism was laid in place.
To recap:
Machiavelli taught us that people obey incentives, and we should design government to work even if our leaders (and citizens) aren’t particularly noble.
Locke taught us that we should separate church (and, more broadly, culture) from state, so that government can serve diverse groups equally well.
Bacon taught us that problems can be solved, and we don’t just have to accept things the way they are.
I think it’s important (and interesting!) to explore the origins of our way of life, because it helps us remember that our current world isn’t some neutral / default / permanent way of living. It’s actually a specific ideology. It has a history.
Also: it’s not perfect! For instance, in 2018, I think a lot of people feel like we need a rediscovery of virtue. “People suck” is a really common theme to hear.
Inspired by Bacon, we might ask:
“How can we fix it?”