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Liberal Racism
A political journalist reflects on the liberal policies that deal with race, arguing that the liberal view of race is outdated and that these views promote a country divided by racial resentment. Tour.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1997
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June 4, 2008
Jim Sleeper’s ‘Liberal Racism’ should be required reading for every self-proclaimed ‘liberal’, especially in today’s political climate. Sleeper’s argument starts with the premise that race is a social construction – a point that most liberals themselves ascribed to during the abolitionist movement. However, Sleeper argues, this point was never taken to its natural conclusion that ‘race’ as a concept should cease to exist.
Sleeper tries to dismantle parochialism and the arguments of ‘historical wrongs’ which many liberals adhere to by providing evidence based in media-analysis, litigation, voting histories of diverse constituencies and critical race theory. His argument is very strong and compelling, and tends to favor a universalist ‘American’ value system which anyone can (and should) subscribe to irrespective of race or sub-culture.
Although Sleeper tries to explain this value system as one based on voluntary civil associations (with encouragement from government) and one that subscribes to the ethics of self-improvement and self-empowerment, there is very little further explanation of these overarching ‘American values’. Who gets to decide which values are more important? What will the power structure look like that can uphold these values? These and other questions are left unanswered by Sleeper – and if he could have provided these answers, it would have been a far more significant read.
This book and the ideas it contains is a hard, but necessary, pill to swallow by liberals. For many academics and scholars, this pill will probably not do anything to alleviate the perpetual dilemma of moral and ethical relativity that can make this world into a “moral barren-land”; but unless someone can construct another solution which neutralizes the evils of both parochialism and universalism, we are stuck with this choice. This book convinced me, at least, to align with the lesser of the two evils.
Sleeper tries to dismantle parochialism and the arguments of ‘historical wrongs’ which many liberals adhere to by providing evidence based in media-analysis, litigation, voting histories of diverse constituencies and critical race theory. His argument is very strong and compelling, and tends to favor a universalist ‘American’ value system which anyone can (and should) subscribe to irrespective of race or sub-culture.
Although Sleeper tries to explain this value system as one based on voluntary civil associations (with encouragement from government) and one that subscribes to the ethics of self-improvement and self-empowerment, there is very little further explanation of these overarching ‘American values’. Who gets to decide which values are more important? What will the power structure look like that can uphold these values? These and other questions are left unanswered by Sleeper – and if he could have provided these answers, it would have been a far more significant read.
This book and the ideas it contains is a hard, but necessary, pill to swallow by liberals. For many academics and scholars, this pill will probably not do anything to alleviate the perpetual dilemma of moral and ethical relativity that can make this world into a “moral barren-land”; but unless someone can construct another solution which neutralizes the evils of both parochialism and universalism, we are stuck with this choice. This book convinced me, at least, to align with the lesser of the two evils.
Displaying 1 of 1 review