Day By Day

Saturday, March 12, 2011

The Danger of Liberalism

The Christian Science Monitor recently published a piece on the repressive nature of modern liberalism that contains one of my favorite quotes from one of the great liberal icons of the Twentieth Century -- Lionel Trilling.

"Some paradox of our nature leads us," Trilling wrote in "The Liberal Imagination," "when once we have made our fellow men the objects of our enlightened interest, to go on to make them objects of our pity, then of our wisdom, ultimately of our coercion."

Trilling's observation succinctly outlines the process by which liberal reform rapidly degenerates into tyranny. The article goes on to outline a number of areas in which liberal policies serve to radically restrict the freedom of individuals and it contains links to a number of other sources on the subject. It's worth spending a little time on. Check it out here.


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