The liberal faith is that people are naturally good and if they are
not subject to unjust social arrangements, then they will live good
rather than evil lives. This is an indefensible, sentimental, and
destructive falsification of reality. It makes wishful thinking
into a political program. It ignores the historical record that
testifies to the contrary. It arrogates to itself the moral high
ground by pretending to champion the welfare of the poor, the needy
and the unfortunate, while pursuing policies that refuse to face
the causes of their misery and make it impossible to improve their
lot....
Liberals believe that if people do not have to contend with
poverty, discrimination, crime, and other social ills, if they are
not ignorant, indoctrinated, or enraged by injustice, if they have
the time and opportunity to think about their lives and actions,
then they will not do what is evil. This is the liberal faith, and
it is indefensible. -- from Against Liberalism
Liberalism is doomed to failure, John Kekes argues in this
penetrating criticism of its basic assumptions. Liberals favor
individual autonomy, a wide plurality of choices, and equal rights
and resources, seeing them as essential for good lives. They oppose
such evils as selfishness, intolerance, cruelty, and greed. Yet the
more autonomy, equality, and pluralism there is, Kekes contends,
the greater is the scope for evil. According to Kekes, liberalism
is inconsistent because the conditions liberals regard as essential
for good lives actually foster the very evils liberals want to
avoid, and avoiding those evils depends on conditions contrary to
the ones liberals favor.
Kekes argues further that the liberal conceptions ofequality,
justice, and pluralism require treating good and evil people with
equal respect, distributing resources without regard to what
recipients deserve, and restricting choices to those that conform
to liberal preconceptions. All these policies are detrimental to
good lives. Kekes concludes that liberalism cannot cope with the
prevalence of evil, that it is vitiated by inconsistent
commitments, and that -- contrary to its aim -- liberalism is an
obstacle to good lives.
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