Tunku Varadarajan, writing in The Wall Street Journal, has reviewed a book by Adrian Wooldridge. Wooldridge's book is titled, The Revolutionary Center. Varadarajan's review is titled, "Two Cheers For Liberal Democracy," and his review begins with an attempt to understand "liberalism." Here is how Varadarajan initiates his discussion (emphasis added):
Liberalism has come to acquire a bewildering range of meanings over the years; our understanding of the word is, by necessity, contextual. Winston Churchill, believe it or not, called himself a liberal, as did John Maynard Keynes.In its primordial form, liberalism was a political belief that the building block of society is the individual—an idea tethered loosely to the Christian notion that every single human being contains a divine spark. In “The Revolutionary Center” Adrian Wooldridge sums up the early liberal demand thus: “Do not judge me as a member of a group . . . judge me as an individual with unique talents.”
My reaction to this claim, that the "building block of society is the individual," is not an immediate repudiation, but is rather an augmentation. I can absolutely agree that individuals are "primary," and are the building blocks upon which all human society is constructed. However, as we build our human society, individuals never act "alone," but always in concert with others. We do not exist as isolated individuals, but we work with others to build, maintain, and in some cases destroy the society of which every one of us is an invaluable part.
My understanding of the "individual," puts emphasis on how individuals work in concert, and collectively, to create, and modify or replace, the realities that define our lives. This is not, apparently, an understanding to which Wooldridge subscribes. To me, it seems obvious (as I often say) that "we're in this together." How could we not - every one of us - understand and acknowledge our mutual interdependence?
Varadarajan's judgment is that for all its troubles, there is no better system than "liberal democracy" to "protect free markets, freedom of thought, and a just social order."
Call it "liberal democracy," or what you will, our democratic system of self-government, which values collaboration and cooperation above all else, is not beguiled by the myth that it is the "individual," and "individual" actions alone, that make our world.
We're in this together!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your comment!