Re: Dem Unity

At times it does seem that all that seems to be holding the Democrats together is an opposition to Republicans in general and George W. Bush in particular. Furthermore, how firmly they've been able to latch onto this this and stick to it has been impressive. Still, it won't win them many elections and may lead them to irrelevance. In order for the Democrats to have a chance of rebounding, proponents of liberalism need to take a hard look at their philosophy and attempt to answer some very hard questions about what it is exactly that liberals believe, what principles they hold dear and what policy prescriptions follow from them. They need to answer questions about the proper scope of the authority of the state, particularly regulatory authority over the market; the nature of the rights of man and what make something a right; the role of the military in preserving national security and the circumstances under which military force is justified; the legitimate role of religion in society; the role of race and ehtnicity in society; the relevance of differences between men and women; the ends for which society exists and the best means to obtain those ends. Furthermore, they need to look at their policy prescriptions now and examine whether or not they are consistent with any sort of coherent liberal philosophy as opposed to a group of interests thrown together into a pot because of a belief that they could conceivably work together to obtain their desired political objectives. In short, what is the Liberal answer to The Conservative Mind, Russel Kirk's magnum opus that, along with the work of the likes of William F. Buckley Jr., laid the intellectual foundations for the modern conservative movement that is so ascendant today.

Who will liberals look to as their intellectual forbears and why? Where is their answer to the likes of National Review, The New Criterion, The Public Interest, etc.? These are questions that cannot be answered by the leaders of the Democrat party; they have to be taken up by prominent intellectual figures within the liberal movement and debated in view of those who form the base of the liberal movement. Focusing on electoral success and policy intitiatives over underlying principles and philosophy is putting the cart before the horse. The two major problems facing Democrats and the liberal movement in general are the suddenness with which they've lost most of their political power and the fact that much of liberal academia is mired in post-modernism. Who will rise up to save liberalism from itself before it's too late? As an outsider, I really can't say. I know Peter Beinart of The New Republic is trying, but it remains to be seen whether anyone will take him seriously.