Is Liberalism in Its Death Throes?

The Democratic National Convention is upon us. In the coming days, we are sure to be treated to a cavalcade of self-congratulation and unrestrained hyperbole. Democrats from across the nation are assembling in Charlotte so as to inform us of their noble deeds and wondrous plans for our future.

From all the hoopla, you might assume that liberalism is on the ascendance. If you did, you would be very wrong. Liberalism is in decline and the egregious behavior of liberals during the current presidential campaign is strong evidence of this slide.

I have, in fact, presented the case for this conclusion in my new book Post-Liberalism: The Death of a Dream (Transaction Publishers). In it, I use sociology to explain why liberalism is dying and must die. As an ideology that cannot meet the challenges we face, it is doomed to extinction.

In the book, I begin with an event that occurred some years ago. At the time, I was reading on my couch when something smashed into the living room window. Upon inspection, I discovered that a small bird had flown into the pane and then fallen to the driveway below.

When I went outside to take a closer look, the creature seemed to be in bad shape. Then, quite unexpectedly, there was a great flurry of movement. It flapped its wings vigorously as if it were about to take off, but immediately thereafter expired. This burst of energy turned out to be its death throes.

The same has now been happening to liberalism. It had its moment of glory in taking the presidency and both houses of congress, and then enacting its dream legislation. But now, despite all the promises about making us whole and happy, we know this agenda failed.

We shouldn’t, however, have been surprised. Earlier promises to eliminate poverty, get rid of crime, strengthen the family, and transform education for the better all foundered on the shoals of an uncooperative universe. The ballyhooed improvements did not unfold as predicted—because they could not.

Liberalism stumbles as a result of being based on false premises. It tells us that someday, under its tutelage, we will all love one another. It also claims to be setting the table for complete human equality. If we merely transfer the wealth from the rich to the poor, we will presumably achieve universal social justice.

But the biggest liberal canard of all is that they are “the best and brightest.” If we just listen to them, their goodness and intelligence will surely carry us through. And who better to exemplify this sterling brilliance than Barack Obama, the man who repeatedly tells us how well he “gets it.” (But shhh, don’t mention Joe Biden.)

We know that Obama, like Clinton before him, feels our pain—but why does he insist on inflicting more? He also tell us that he has a plan to get us out of the recession, yet the budgets he submitted to congress were so lame that not a single Democrat voted for them.

I will not recite all of the statistics about unemployment, or the deficit, or the evils of ObamaCare, because by now these are widely known. Indeed, they are so widely known that the president’s allies spend all their waking hours attempting to deflect our attention from them.

This has been a historically dirty campaign, with most of the slime and mud emanating from the president’s champions. As has been noted, by myself and others, this is a sign of desperation. It is also a sign that liberalism cannot defend itself by citing the facts. It must therefore obscure and misstate.

So bring on the circus. Let the confetti fly and the stirring words issue additional promises than cannot be kept. Just remember that this is a blizzard of sand directed toward our eyes. Fortunately, if we put on the protective goggles of truth, we may be able to see through the storm.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University