Gee’s Reviews > The Demons of Liberal Democracy > Status Update

Liberal man is the freest man ever to have lived and at the same time the most domesticated

liberal democracy is once more descending into this tyranny of voluntary servitude as a result of liberalism’s ‘end of history’ hubris and utopian outlook. The metaphysics of progress refracts into an embrace of historicism and a blind belief in historical laws, exemplified by the liberal Whig conception of history as evolving towards individual emancipation and social progress based on the expansion of capitalism

A civil society composed of strong intermediary institutions makes democracy less individualistic and anarchic and oriented more towards the common good – balancing individual fulfilment with mutual flourishing in ways that respect the equal dignity of all

Liberalism claims to offer security by guarding us against all enemies of freedom, but it fails to tolerate those who challenge its governing assumptions, above all the primacy of the individual over groups or communities.

Mass migration, weak demographic growth and multiculturalism have eroded civic bonds and left Western societies more atomised. Taken together, these factors undermine the legitimacy of Western democratic rule in the eyes of the non-West and cast doubt over who composes and controls the supposedly sovereign demos

liberalism cannot comprehend popular attachment to relationships embedded in civic institutions – from the local parish and town hall to the armed forces and parliament. It equates such sentiments with atavistic prejudice that must be swept away in the name of progress embodied in transnational state power and the expanding global market. Secular progressive liberalism flips over into large-scale social engineering