Equality is central to the liberal project. Thomas Jefferson failed, dramatically and unforgivably, to live up to this ideal, but he stated in correctly when, in a letter, he wrote that “the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately.” Liberalism views us as equals, and demands the law treat us as such.
The illiberal project, then, is the denial of this equality. And the failure to notice inequalities, or to view the inequalities afflicting some as less worthy of concern than the inequalities afflicting others, is how nominal liberals can slide into illiberal politics without realizing it.
My guest today has spent his career reminding liberals of their blind spots, and calling for the principles of a liberal society to be applied consistently, leaving no marginalized groups marginalized.
Jonathan Blanks is a writer and editor who has spent the bulk of his career focusing on constitutional law, civil liberties, due process, and criminal legal issues. After more than 12 years at the Cato Institute, Blanks has spent the past few years writing about American culture and the effects of police policy.
I’m not sure if it came up in the podcast. I know you guys discussed a values-based approach. I think empathy is extremely underrated as a value. I am open to many different kinds of people, but someone who rejects empathy as a foundational value is probably not someone I’d want to be friends with. Recently, this is actually something that came up on Musk’s Twitter.
As for Jonathan’s points, I agree with nearly all of them, though I would emphasize the part about donors not really caring about the discussion on race and libertarianism.
I’d also like to see some new institutions pop up which kind of merge some of the ACLU rhetoric with libertarian rhetoric. I think Defending Rights and Dissent does this well. We could use more of those types of organizations.
Very much so. The (re)newed rhetoric on the right of empathy being a form of weakness is so dispiriting. I was thinking about doing an episode on this, with someone who can tie it into the weird tributaries of far-right ideologies. (Because there’s a Musk version of it, but also a Christian nationalism version of it, too.)
Finally listening to this now and I am really glad he brought up “cancel culture” as the alternative to government because hypocrisy around that issue is one of my bugaboos. I think “me too” is in the same vein–a non-government public safety measure where government failed.
