Blame it on Liberalism
Liberalism is perpetuating its own demise.
Modern liberalism has fostered a belief in individuality that can no longer be maintained. Believing we are all fundamentally different from one another and from nature removes ourselves from the essence of our humanity. The type of ‘liberty’ that liberalism has fostered has rid us of our connections to the wider world and has, in turn, convinced us that humanity must conquer nature, rather than exist with it. Modern liberalism’s focus on the individual rather than the collective and its conquest of nature has led liberalism to perpetuate its own demise.
Classical political theory believes that humanity has a deep interconnection to the universe. For classical theorists, humanity was always seen as inextricably tied to the natural world, never above it. On the contrary, modern liberalism shifts away from classical thought towards a notion of individualism that is incohesive with the belief of man’s interconnectedness to the universe. In his book “Why Liberalism Failed,” Patrick Deneen notes this shift was successful because liberalism changed the way human beings saw their relationship with nature. For Deneen, humanity was no longer seen as interconnected to the world around them, and instead, humanity was conditioned to believe our existence was radically independent from the natural world. This shift, now the center of liberalism, fostered a notion of individualism far beyond what existed in classical thought.
Given that liberalism views human beings as fully independent of one another and their surroundings, relationships and connections with others often only exist through rational calculations of self-interest. Institutions such as dating and marriage are subject to constant cost-benefit analysis — having children is increasingly becoming a calculated decision that impedes on the individual freedom of the parent-to-be. Many argue that a calculated approach to relationships is necessary for one’s individual happiness. In an article on Boundless, author Scott Croft argues that there is nothing wrong with a calculated approach to dating, wherein one weighs the costs and benefits of another person. In a Positive Psychology blog post by Seph Fontane Pennock, she argues for and against having kids by calculating a cost-benefit approach for herself; she concludes that we can both value something (in this case, kids) even though it detracts from happiness in the moment. The issue with these articles isn’t in the author or their guidance — fundamentally, I believe they mean well and are genuinely looking to give good advice. The problem is that the framing of their advice reflects the result of a system where we are forced to view our relationships in an exclusively transactional manner. Whether that be the erosion of community-style parenting and resulting high child-care costs changing our view on having children, or the idea of marriage tax-cuts that perpetuate the norm of a nuclear family; liberalism has eroded genuine connections by centering human relationships around individuality and personal freedom rather than deep-rooted connections with others and the world around us.
Excessive individuality and calculations of self-interest have led to humanity’s conquest of nature. The notion of individuality, or liberty, as the core principle in society has undermined a common good and has led us to exist in a society that is largely driven by private material concerns such as excessive wealth accumulation or corporate profit above all. We seek to conquer what impedes us from accumulating as much as we can; for we are conditioned to believe that this conquest will bring us liberty and happiness in return. In turn, humanity, in our insatiable quest for liberty under liberalism, conquers and destroys that around them which is not directly correlated to, or beneficial to, liberty. This, to an increasing fault, includes nature and the universe around us for liberalism has convinced men that the notion of human nature itself is contrary to liberty and must be conquered.
As Deneen says, liberalism has failed because liberalism has succeeded. It has convinced us that our complete independence of one another and of nature is inherent to human beings. Evidently, this is far from true. Nature and humanity are inescapably intertwined and any system that attempts to artificially create a system contrary to nature, or foster qualities in humanity that are antithetical to deep-rooted human connection, placing calculated self-interest above all, is bound to fail. Evidently, classic theory was correct in assuming that all that we artificially create will inevitably fall — for the universe is the largest conqueror of all.
