The Decline and Fall of American Liberalism

With so much attention these days focused on a new breed of socialists infiltrating the Democratic Party, it has been easy to overlook the decline of traditional liberalism, a hallmark of the party for almost a century. Liberalism was largely welcomed during the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, but it was increasingly scorned over the following decades. After Ronald Reagan won a landslide victory over Jimmy Carter in 1980 and launched his revolution to reduce the size, scope, and reach of the federal government, the word liberal became an insult employed ad nauseum by Republicans.   

Fast forward to the 2020s with illiberal progressives running wild and controlling the Democratic Party narrative. The traditional liberals, conveniently described by the media as moderates even though they are reliably leftist, will now be joined at the hip with members of the Democratic Socialists of America, which just called for abolishing the presidency, the Senate, and the Supreme Court, essentially anarchy. Wow, suddenly old-time liberals like Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Tip O’Neill don’t seem as bad as many conservatives recall. Remember the good old days when we argued about issues like marginal tax rates, welfare programs, and reducing crime instead of transgenders in women’s sports, protecting criminal aliens, and arresting the Prime Minister of Israel?

Who would have ever thought the country would actually welcome a return to liberalism in the Democratic Party?

What Happened to Clinton Democrats?

Ironically, it was President Bill Clinton who declared the sunsetting of conventional liberalism in arguably the most momentous statement of his presidency: “We know big government does not have all the answers. We know there’s not a program for every problem. We have worked to give the American people a smaller, less bureaucratic government in Washington. And we have to give the American people one that lives within its means. The era of big government is over.” 

Imagine that. Three decades ago, in 1996, a Democratic president delivered a speech that could have been given by many Republicans today, admitting that New-Deal-style liberalism was no longer effective or popular. But 24 years later, in 2020, Joe Biden assumed the presidency running as a traditional liberal and then surrendered to the radical left. Only the heroic efforts of two level-headed Democratic senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, derailed the party’s plan to stack the Supreme Court, turn left-wing territories into states, and abolish the Electoral College. Democrats would then be all but assured of controlling all three branches of government for as far as the eye can see.

The Last Stand of Liberalism?

In his essay titled “Is This Liberalism’s Last Stand?” published by The New York Times, Thomas Edsall laments the decline of liberal orthodoxy, which he defines as “the combination of carefully regulated free markets with individual and intellectual freedom — the liberalism that drove unparalleled growth and prosperity here and abroad.” Of course, if that were true, why did the word liberal stand as a slur for so many years? Nevertheless, Edsall argues that “liberalism is under threat from both its left and its right” and ponders whether “American liberalism — once an insurgency challenging corporate monopolists, segregationists, the patriarchy, corrupt politicians and, most broadly, entrenched economic power — been corrupted by its ties to the establishment?”

Journalist Fareed Zakaria argues that Democrats have “allowed corporate consolidation and inequality to run wild. In personal life, liberals have become reluctant to say that certain behaviors are socially destructive … A liberal society should celebrate individual rights — and also demand individual responsibility.” 

Columnist Adrian Wooldridge added a stinging indictment, opining that Democrats have become “creatures of the establishment. Their lot in life is not the martyr’s grave or the prisoner’s cell but the tenured job and the index-linked pension. Liberal elites have created caste-like privileges that recall the caste-like privileges of the feudal and clerical elite.” Helena Rosenblatt, author of “The Lost History of Liberalism: From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century,” told The Times: “Liberals have lost touch with ordinary people; they have become selfish and complacent.” 

The fat and happy liberal Democrats ruling the roost for decades have one fatal flaw. They can’t say no. They refused to shut down radicalism in their ranks. They have tolerated and defended toxic, metastasizing wokeness. They thought they were safe and warm with their control of big media, academia, Hollywood, and virtually all major American institutions. But now they are left with no choice but to pretend the socialists in their ranks will be welcomed into one big happy party. They are celebrating a “big tent” where all are welcome? Well, in stormy weather, whether atmospheric or political, tents are prone to collapse onto those beneath them. And socialism is a storm rising on the left that liberals have proven unwilling or unable to control. But they had better try harder and figure out how to tamp down the rebellion before it destroys their party.