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December 10, 2010
The Drab Origins of Liberalism
In part, modern liberalism comes from Jeremy Bentham
—you still can see his mummy at the University of London, and his ideas walk among us still—his abstract principle of ‘the greatest happiness of the greatest number,’ mathematically determined, and his emphasis upon Efficiency, and his contempt for everything old and complex, and his desire for a drab Utilitarian future. And, in part, modern liberalism is the child of Rousseau, with his romantic emancipation from old moral confines, his hatred of constituted authorities, and his exaltation of the common will to supremacy over every private and traditional right. In short, modern totalitarian democracy—what Tocqueville calls ‘democratic despotism’—is the consequence of these liberal ideas; and with the passage of time, the society which these notions create destroys the very liberties which originally was intended to bestow upon men.” -- The Imaginative Conservative: Russell Kirk's 1954 Speech: "Conservatism, Liberalism, and Fraternity"
Posted by Vanderleun at December 10, 2010 9:48 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.