The United States, long considered liberalism’s most successful political experiment, is witnessing growing criticism of the philosophy from both right and left. Historian Fritz Stern once described liberalism as America’s “noblest tradition”, rooted in documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. On the right, allies of Donald Trump, including Vice-President JD Vance, promote “post-liberal” ideas that question liberal principles such as limits on executive power and the separation of church and state. Conservative thinkers including Patrick Deneen argue liberalism itself has produced social problems such as cultural fragmentation and elite domination. Critics on the left have also challenged liberalism through identity-based politics, exemplified by the The 1619 Project, which reinterprets the country’s founding around slavery. The result, the author argues, is a self-reinforcing cycle of illiberal ideas on both sides that threatens the liberal principles long central to the American political system.
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The United States, long considered liberalism’s most successful political experiment, is witnessing growing criticism of the philosophy from both right and left. Historian Fritz Stern once described liberalism as America’s “noblest tradition”, rooted in documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. On the right, allies of Donald Trump, including Vice-President JD Vance, promote “post-liberal” ideas that question liberal principles such as limits on executive power and the separation of church and state. Conservative thinkers including Patrick Deneen argue liberalism itself has produced social problems such as cultural fragmentation and elite domination. Critics on the left have also challenged liberalism through identity-based politics, exemplified by the The 1619 Project, which reinterprets the country’s founding around slavery. The result, the author argues, is a self-reinforcing cycle of illiberal ideas on both sides that threatens the liberal principles long central to the American political system.