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 Freedom's PowerThe True Force of Liberalismby Paul Starr Apr 2, 2007
DescriptionLiberalism in America is under siege. Conservatives now treat it as an epithet and even some progressives spurn it. But according to Paul Starr, liberalism is a sturdy public philosophy, deeply rooted in our traditions, capable of making America and the world more free and secure.“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” remains as good and concise a definition of liberalism’s aims today as it was when Thomas Jefferson borrowed the language of John Locke for the Declaration of Independence. What distinguishes liberalism, however, is not just high aspirations but strikingly effective principles for the creation and control of power. From its origins as constitutional liberalism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the liberal project has provided the basis of the most prosperous and powerful states in the world. Modern democratic liberalism has carried forward the constitutional liberal tradition by favoring a more inclusive and egalitarian conception of liberty and opportunity. It has responded to threats to freedom and the public good from excessive concentrations of private power, while maintaining a dynamic market economy. And it has shown how government can respond to economic crisis and injustice—yet keep arbitrary power in check—by providing stronger guarantees of civil liberties and equal rights. At a time when conservative policies are weakening America’s long-term fiscal, economic, and international strength as well as its liberties, liberalism is more urgent than ever. Freedom’s Power shows why liberalism works—and how it can work for America again. ReviewsFreedom’s Power is an impressive achievement that deserves to be pondered
by the critics of contemporary American liberalism no less than by its supporters
. . . a brilliant and ambitious attempt to provide a public philosophy
for 21st-century American liberalism.
....Refreshingly optimistic and forward-looking...What Mr. Starr correctly emphasizes is that the founders of liberalism aimed not just to control state power but to create it too... It is, if nothing else, a first step in the worthy effort to rehabilitate the ‘dreaded “L” word’ ...Sweeping intellectual history of “constitutional liberalism...Starr’s contribution is to help restart the national conversation about the sources of American greatness. The book aims to ‘offer a historical interpretation of the liberal project and a defense of its modern inclusive and egalitarian form.’ Its success in both the interpretation and the defense is rooted in an appreciation that liberalism combines rights with responsibilities, the need to create power with the need to constrain it, and large aspirations with practical solutions to urgent political challenges. An informed and eloquent case for liberalism as the American way. Part political theory and part intellectual history, this book tracks the development of liberalism as the world's dominant political tradition and argues for its continued ascendancy as the best guarantor of individual rights and prosperity on the global stage. Selling TerritoryWorld |
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