Liberals Ought to Argue the Big Questions -- David Brooks

David Brooks' NY Times column of today:

... When modern conservatism became aware of itself, conservatives were so far out of power it wasn't even worth thinking about policy prescriptions. They argued about the order of the universe, and how the social order should reflect the moral order. Different factions looked back to different philosophers - Burke, Aquinas, Hayek, Hamilton, Jefferson - to define what a just society should look like.

Conservatives fell into the habit of being acutely conscious of their intellectual forebears and had big debates about public philosophy. That turned out to be important: nobody joins a movement because of admiration for its entitlement reform plan. People join up because they think that movement's views about human nature and society are true.

Liberals have not had a comparable public philosophy debate.  * * *  As a result, liberals are good at talking about rights, but not as good at talking about a universal order.

Comments

[bls]

I totally agree, and think it's actually worse than that. I think liberals have almost completely gotten out of the habit of making argument at all. This, IMO, is inertia as a result of having been in power for so long. Another problem has been the casting out of heretics - pro-life Democrats, for instance. And those who believe in a muscular foreign policy. Just yesterday, the DNC (which has its own problems) announced its intention to open up debate on this, and were called, as per usual, "Republican Lite" for doing so.

Debate needs two (or more!) points of view to be valid, but this hasn't been allowed due to the left's reaction to Bush and the "religious" right. The Republicans have been successful because they are a coalition of Libertarians and Conservatives, who certainly don't agree on many things, but joined together to beat the Democrats.

Also, it needs to be said, the liberal program has been wildly successful. The "rights" movements were hugely important and have changed the world. Good going! Now liberalism needs to regroup and look forward, not back.

[bls]

And yes: Democrats and liberals need to talk about "universal order." This is not a good thing to cede completely to conservatives; what we're seeing now is the result of having done so, IMO.