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The Essential Lippmann: A Political Philosophy for Liberal Democracy
A comprehensive selection of the political analyst's works which present his views on such topics as the dilemma of liberal democracy
576 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1965
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About the author
Clinton L. Rossiter
34 books10 followersClinton Lawrence Rossiter III was an award-winning American historian and political scientist who taught at Cornell University from 1947 until his death in 1970.
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May 27, 2019
Anyone 50 or younger is probably unaware of Walter Lippmann, even though his abundant opinion pieces and thoughtful essays appeared widely in newspapers, books, and magazines for over 50 years in the United States, from the second decade of the last century through the 1960s.
His style was that of a political sage, the kind of person who is quite rare these days. A deeply thoughtful man, he was a superb representative of a classic "liberal," a person who revered the Constitution while also holding a realistic (e.g., conservative) view of how human beings thought, felt, and behaved. For instance, while he believed individuals -- and, indeed, whole peoples -- were capable of nobility and greatness, he also knew that we were also preoccupied with the routine and demands of daily life, more likely to "think" with and through our emotions, and ill-equipped to handle the social and political challenges that complex modernity threw at us.
This book, first published 50 years ago, attempts to gather in its 500 plus pages a representative sampling of Lippmann's thought. In its pages, while many of the individuals and events about whom he writes may be known only by historians today, the principles that he repeatedly returned to -- and the contradictions he pondered -- remain of central importance today.
For example, time and again he returns to "the people" and the nature of, and problems inherent in, "public opinion." He ponders the role and duty of "citizen," as well as the qualities that denote great leaders.
Precisely because his writings require thoughtful reflection, his essays still retain great value, as they can help us better "see" the political dis-ease of our time: how small is the character of so many would-be leaders, for example, and how tawdry is their conception of what the American people can envision or accomplish.
Not only has our entire society -- in its language and behavior -- been significantly "dumbed down" over the past half-century, but our moral sense, our very spirit, has been sadly diminished.
I want to close by providing some passages from his "Reflections on Gandhi" which appeared on February 3, 1948:
"[Ghandi] posed again the perennial question of how the insight of the seers and saints is related to the work of legislators, rulers, and statesmen....
"Perhaps we may say that the insight of the governors of men is, as it were, horizontal: They act in the present, with men as they are, with the knowledge they possess, with what they can now understand, with the mixture of their passions and desires and instincts. They must work with concrete and with the plainly and generally intelligible things.
"The insight of the seers, on the contrary, is vertical: They deal, however wide their appeal, with each person potentially, as he might be transformed, renewed, and regenerated. And because they appeal to experienced which men have not yet had, with things that are not at hand and are out of their immediate reach, with the invisible and the unattained, they speak and act, as Gandhi did, obscurely, appealing to the imagination by symbolic evocation and subtle example....
"At the summit of their wisdom what they teach is, I think, not how...men in society can and should behave but to what ultimate values they should give their allegiance....
"In the same manner, to have humility is to have, in the last reaches of conviction, a saving doubt. To embrace poverty is to be without possessiveness and a total attachment to things and to honors. To be non-resistant is to be at last non-competitive.
"What the seer points toward is best described in the language of St. Paul as the creation of a new man."
His style was that of a political sage, the kind of person who is quite rare these days. A deeply thoughtful man, he was a superb representative of a classic "liberal," a person who revered the Constitution while also holding a realistic (e.g., conservative) view of how human beings thought, felt, and behaved. For instance, while he believed individuals -- and, indeed, whole peoples -- were capable of nobility and greatness, he also knew that we were also preoccupied with the routine and demands of daily life, more likely to "think" with and through our emotions, and ill-equipped to handle the social and political challenges that complex modernity threw at us.
This book, first published 50 years ago, attempts to gather in its 500 plus pages a representative sampling of Lippmann's thought. In its pages, while many of the individuals and events about whom he writes may be known only by historians today, the principles that he repeatedly returned to -- and the contradictions he pondered -- remain of central importance today.
For example, time and again he returns to "the people" and the nature of, and problems inherent in, "public opinion." He ponders the role and duty of "citizen," as well as the qualities that denote great leaders.
Precisely because his writings require thoughtful reflection, his essays still retain great value, as they can help us better "see" the political dis-ease of our time: how small is the character of so many would-be leaders, for example, and how tawdry is their conception of what the American people can envision or accomplish.
Not only has our entire society -- in its language and behavior -- been significantly "dumbed down" over the past half-century, but our moral sense, our very spirit, has been sadly diminished.
I want to close by providing some passages from his "Reflections on Gandhi" which appeared on February 3, 1948:
"[Ghandi] posed again the perennial question of how the insight of the seers and saints is related to the work of legislators, rulers, and statesmen....
"Perhaps we may say that the insight of the governors of men is, as it were, horizontal: They act in the present, with men as they are, with the knowledge they possess, with what they can now understand, with the mixture of their passions and desires and instincts. They must work with concrete and with the plainly and generally intelligible things.
"The insight of the seers, on the contrary, is vertical: They deal, however wide their appeal, with each person potentially, as he might be transformed, renewed, and regenerated. And because they appeal to experienced which men have not yet had, with things that are not at hand and are out of their immediate reach, with the invisible and the unattained, they speak and act, as Gandhi did, obscurely, appealing to the imagination by symbolic evocation and subtle example....
"At the summit of their wisdom what they teach is, I think, not how...men in society can and should behave but to what ultimate values they should give their allegiance....
"In the same manner, to have humility is to have, in the last reaches of conviction, a saving doubt. To embrace poverty is to be without possessiveness and a total attachment to things and to honors. To be non-resistant is to be at last non-competitive.
"What the seer points toward is best described in the language of St. Paul as the creation of a new man."
July 21, 2010
There are few people I disagree with more than Walter Lippmann.
Let me say I know others will definitely disagree with me on the rating of this book, but I stand by it. I would recommend the book be read, but not as the source material Mr. Lippmann may have wished. I could not read it word for word in detail as my blood pressure pills were running low.
Mr. Lippmann was a very intelligent man, a lead thinker in his fields of journalism, broadcast journalism, and academia. Like much of his work I found this book difficult as I disagree with his conclusions and even his understanding of("take on") the ideas, arguments, and statements of others.
A seminal thinker in the political movements leading into the 60s and beyond, but his influences begin much earlier. An adviser of President Woodrow Wilson he helped with the famous 14 points and was a part of the early 20th century's progressive movement. Over his life his views "evolved" often related to journalism and the public. He became disenchanted with democracy “a specialized class whose interests reach beyond the locality" and believed that "experts , specialists, and bureaucrats should be left to run things. He seems to me to somewhat agree with Plato and his take on government (The Republic).
Near the end of his life I have read that Lippmann's views changed somewhat, but I have read no evidence of it in his own hand. He comes across to me as quite an elitist and I disagree with most of his conclusions.
However whether you agree or disagree it is advisable to get a working idea of what he says. How can anyone actually say they disagree with anyone unless they actually know what he wrote. I freely admit that I don't know all he's said and don't really know if his views changed later or not as I haven't read it. I can only say that I disagree with a great deal of what I read here.
Let me say I know others will definitely disagree with me on the rating of this book, but I stand by it. I would recommend the book be read, but not as the source material Mr. Lippmann may have wished. I could not read it word for word in detail as my blood pressure pills were running low.
Mr. Lippmann was a very intelligent man, a lead thinker in his fields of journalism, broadcast journalism, and academia. Like much of his work I found this book difficult as I disagree with his conclusions and even his understanding of("take on") the ideas, arguments, and statements of others.
A seminal thinker in the political movements leading into the 60s and beyond, but his influences begin much earlier. An adviser of President Woodrow Wilson he helped with the famous 14 points and was a part of the early 20th century's progressive movement. Over his life his views "evolved" often related to journalism and the public. He became disenchanted with democracy “a specialized class whose interests reach beyond the locality" and believed that "experts , specialists, and bureaucrats should be left to run things. He seems to me to somewhat agree with Plato and his take on government (The Republic).
Near the end of his life I have read that Lippmann's views changed somewhat, but I have read no evidence of it in his own hand. He comes across to me as quite an elitist and I disagree with most of his conclusions.
However whether you agree or disagree it is advisable to get a working idea of what he says. How can anyone actually say they disagree with anyone unless they actually know what he wrote. I freely admit that I don't know all he's said and don't really know if his views changed later or not as I haven't read it. I can only say that I disagree with a great deal of what I read here.
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