The Strange Death of Liberal Hegemony

Amir Brandon
Sep 5, 2018 · 3 min read

In my last article I was disappointed in my output and seemingly inconclusive paragraphs. The goal of this article is to refine and expand the first two paragraphs because I feel it was unsatisfying, it did not provided argumentation but only bold assertions and claims. Here we go.

The Rise and Characteristics of Liberal Hegemony

The modern incarnation of liberalism is cosmopolitan, egalitarian, universalist, and utopian. Since the Second World War has cemented itself as the dominant ideology in the West and when the Soviet Empire disintegrated in the early 1990s, the political scientist Yoshiro Francis Fukuyama famously declared that mankind has reached the end of the history and declared that liberal democracy will be the final form of human governance. The defining characteristics of this liberal social order is individualism, futurism to a limited degree, and peace-seeking.

The Ideology and Dynamics of the Ruling Class

The liberal ruling class takes a Rousseauian-Lockean view on human affairs and the state of politics. To quote the paleoconservative essayist Samuel T. Francis “If human beings were the product of their social environment, then many if not all of the ancient evils of the human condition could be ameliorated or removed. If bourgeois interests, institutions, ideas, and values were part of the social environment, then their predominance was relative and no more absolute than alternative institutions and codes of conduct.” Moreover, they present a more positive view on humanity and believe humankind have natural inclinations towards there conception of liberty and equality. Also, they tend to fetishize human reason(rationalism) and believe that culture value is only relative and that the people transcend themselves from their culture, nation, etc. In the sum of it, there vision of mankind is relative and malleable to a very large degree. Moreover, liberalism is essentially a blank slate theory of politics because they started with the individual and non-imposition of costs as there starting point.

How they Express and Maintain Power

The Aristocratic order of the nineteenth century was willing to use the sword to suppress their opposition but the liberal order of the modern world use more subtle and softer forms of coercion to maintain their dominance. Such as subterfuge, shaming, and verbalist propaganda to assimilate or suppress their rivals and ideologies. Moreover, free speech can be seen as political weapon of the democratic politician as a way to consolidate their positions in power and having their own herds of supporters.

The Challenges

Since the rise of identarianism and populism has shaken the foundation of the modern democratic state. The middle class is demanding for dignity and a reaffirmation of there culture identity because they feel unheard, marginalized, and screwed over for decades (especially in the Rust Belt). This search for identity and demand for dignity will inevitable result in violence (quite possible a social revolution). Moreover, these socio-economic created the conditions for demagoguery, polarization, and the rise of more nationalist sentiment and what brought into the light was the 2016 election (it’s been bubbling under the surface). In the end, in a democracy gives the leaders that the people deserve.

Final Thoughts

The proponents of liberalism failed to realize the power of nationalism, identity, and culture because of there failure to understand, they detroying themselves without realizing it.

Notes

The End Of History and the Last Man

Francis Fukuyama — Hamish Hamilton — 1992

Leviathan & Its Enemies: Mass Organization and Managerial Power in Twentieth-century America

Samuel Francis-Fran Griffin-Jerry Woodruff-Paul Gottfried — Radix/washington Summit Publishers — 2016

A Conflict Of Visions

Thomas Sowell — Quill — 1988

Against Identity Politics

Francis Fukuyama — https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/americas/2018-08-14/against-identity-politics

Cardinal Conversations: Francis Fukuyama and Charles Murray on “inequality and Populism”

HooverInstitution — https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Amir Brandon

Written by

A follower of the American Old Right

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