Cushing Strout
LIBERALISM , CONSERVATISM AND
THE BABEL OF TONGUES
Hegel's vivid metaphor for the process through which philo–
sophical truth is established-"the bacchanalian revel, where not a soul
is sober"- is a fair description of the current state of political ph;i–
losophy in America. But he had in mind, of course, the majesty of the
dialectic in its march, and the contemporary debate is rather more
like confusion confounded. Perhaps another of his apothegms is more
relevant: the owl of Minerva flies only after the shades of dusk have
fallen. American political thought has never waited for twilight. In–
spired by practical problems, like the need for a stronger federal gov–
ernment in 1787, the agitation over slavery in the 1850's, or the demand
for regulation of business and provision for economic security since 1900,
philosophy has been programmatic and closely geared to a pragmatic
context of events. What it has lost in depth it has gained in pertinence.
Since the New Deal, controversy over the welfare state and Com–
munism has provoked a fresh flutter of the dovecotes. Liberalism, which
has often prided itself on having a philosophy in contrast to the com–
placent traditionalism of conservatives, has lost the philosophical ini–
tiative to conservatism. Liberals have been burdened by their opponents
with all the intellectual frivolities of sentimental utopianism, the soft–
minded platitudes of progressive education, and the deluded innocence
of fellow-travelling. In spite of all the efforts to make liberalism a
scapegoat for every lapse of modern intelligence or to relegate it to
the historical lumber-room for archaic survivals, liberal programs for
limited welfare-state measures, collective security in foreign affairs, and
equal rights for Negroes have wonderfully prospered. Even the fever
produced by the McCarthy syndrome has abated, and the Supreme
Court is showing a strong interest in the patient's recovery.
If
liberals
lose many a battle in America, they have a formidable talent for win–
ning the campaigns. Their victories are perhaps ample compensation
for their lack of a Clausewitz.
