Hello and welcome to a special episode of Realpolitik. I am your host, Fidaz Maadad, and I am joined

today by Connor Tomlinson. And it is going to be, I think, an interesting conversation about

liberalism, how did we get here, and maybe how do we get out of this? The question that I want to start with, basically, I want to

challenge you maybe in a way and ask you to give a steelman case for liberalism, because I think

this is the fairest way to try to slowly critique it and maybe explore some of its actual intellectual or spiritual roots,

I dare say. So why don't we try to start off with that?

One of the most interesting cases that I've heard is actually contained in Bernard Yack's book, Nationalism and the Moral Psychology of Community, which is, liberals are concerned, rightly, with the misuse of state power, and so they don't want to concentrate the executive functions of the sovereign in one single place.

Instead, they want checks and balances, they want to diffuse power throughout institutions

that can represent different values, different interests that can all counteract one another. And this will mitigate the risk of centralising your power in one sovereign authority that could term tyrannical.

And it's not like history isn't replete with examples of that.

And rather than worry about the unreliable proper instruction of rulers in a moral culture, in setting in a conscience, a sincere religious belief, that they impose restraints upon

themselves because they have virtue. Instead, they want to pursue a secure guarantee that it is

not down to the personal virtues or vices of a ruler as to whether or not governance is good and just.

And that's an understandable pursuit.

I, again, I don't necessarily agree with it, but I think that's the strongest case for liberalism

based on procedure.

And the reason they're concerned about tyranny is because of the confiscation

of rights, the unfair treatment according to the law. The law that applies double standards

based on who it favors and who it fears. And again, it's not like there aren't insufficient

examples of that. So they want to ensure that those administrating the law do not

apply their own personal preferences and prejudices to the law. And so they hope to create a culture

of neutrality in institutions that allows, by matter of procedure, good governance.

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