Has the United States become more pluribus than unum? In terms of
the nation's political beliefs, Robert Booth Fowler answers both
yes and no. While his study affirms significant diversity among an
elite cadre of public intellectuals, it vigorously denies it in a
general public that collectively adheres to the same set of liberal
core values. Enduring Liberalism pursues two objectives. One, it
explores the political thought of public intellectuals and the
general public since the 1960s. Two, it assesses contemporary and
classic interpretations of American political thought in light of
the study's findings. Fowler interprets the writings of public
intellectuals like Robert Bellah, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Michael
Walzer, William Bennett, Seymour Martin Lipset, William Galston,
and others, as well as survey data of American political attitudes,
to spotlight this oft-ignored divide between citizens and
high-profile commentators, whose contentious debates are mistakenly
assumed to reflect countrywide rifts. Fowler's argument is
straightforward, but the interpretation is controversial. He
recounts how the consensus liberal view in post-World War II
American political thought collapsed among public intellectuals
during the tumult of the 1960s and remains so to this day. His book
examines the resultant diversity among contemporary public
intellectuals, focusing on three predominant themes: concern for
community, worry about the environment, and interest in civil
society. In marked contrast to these disputatious commentators,
Fowler finds the realm of popular opinion to be characterized by
much greater consensus. Indeed, there seems to be a trend toward an
even more general embrace of the liberal values that characterize
our attitudes toward the individual, individual liberty, political
equality, economic opportunity, and consent of the governed.
Liberal values-above all the celebration of the individual and
individual rights-have revolutionized the so-called private realms
of life like family and religious communities to an extent
unimagined in the 1950s. From these conclusions, Fowler
demonstrates that most interpretations of American political
thinking have exaggerated the extent of conflict and diversity in
our nation's often raucous policy disputes. But he also cautions us
not to overstate the public's widely shared liberal values and, by
doing so, miss opportunities to facilitate problem solving or to
recognize the ways in which our reform efforts may be constrained.
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