Some predictions made a few years ago now:
‘This impasse between the two parties signals the end game for the system of politics that originated in the 1930s and 1940s. As the “regime party,” the Democrats are in the more vulnerable position because they have built their coalition around public spending, public debt, and publicly guaranteed credit, all sources of funds that appear to be reaching their limits. The end game for the New Deal system, and for the Democrats as our “regime party,” will arrive when those limits are reached or passed.
This point will arrive fairly soon for the following reasons: (1) unsustainable debt; (2) public promises that cannot be fulfilled; (3) stagnation and slow growth; and (4) political paralysis. The last point is important because it means that the parties will fail to agree on any preemptive solutions to the above problems until they reach a point of crisis.’
Also On This Site: Roger Kimball At Arma Virumque: ‘Kenneth Minogue 1930-2013′…William F. Buckley And Kenneth Minogue Discuss Ideology
From Darwinian Conservatism: ‘Nietzsche–Aristocratic Radical or Aristocratic Liberal?’…Here’s Nietzsche scholar J.P. Stern on Nietzsche’s anti-Christian, anti-secular morality (Kant, utilitarians), anti-democratic, and anti-Greek (except the “heroic” Greek) biases……
Leon Wieseltier At The New Republic: ‘A Darwinist Mob Goes After a Serious Philosopher’
Franz De Waal At The NY Times 10/17/10: ‘Morals Without God?’…
The neo-classicism of Leo Strauss and the reason/revelation distinction Update And Repost- From YouTube: Leo Strauss On The Meno-More On The Fact/Value Distinction?’…Harvey Mansfield At Defining Ideas: ‘Democracy Without Politics?’
Monday Quotation From Charles Kesler And A Few Thoughts on Conservatism
The classical liberal tradition…looking for classical liberals in the postmodern wilderness: Isaiah Berlin’s negative liberty: A Few Thoughts On Isaiah Berlin’s “Two Concepts Of Liberty”… From George Monbiot: ‘How Freedom Became Tyranny’…Looking to supplant religion as moral source for the laws: From The Reason Archives: ‘Discussing Disgust’ Julian Sanchez Interviews Martha Nussbaum.New liberty away from Hobbes?: From Public Reason: A Discussion Of Gerald Gaus’s Book ‘The Order of Public Reason: A Theory of Freedom And Morality In A Diverse And Bounded World’…Richard Rorty tried to tie postmodernism and trendy leftist solidarity to liberalism, but wasn’t exactly classically liberal: Repost: Another Take On J.S. Mill From “Liberal England”
We have only one small chance left to avoid the fourth revolution, and that is biotech. Delay or cure the diseases of ageing and you save Medicare and prevent debt default. It’s a slim hope but the best we have.
Malcolm,
I suspect there may be more muddling through, but it will more likely more culturally significant Left base longer term, and crisis to crisis politics nearer term. Lots of solutions 1 step forward, 1 or 2 back from what I’d like to see…
‘Involve’