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Why do you value democracy? My answer would be because democracy realizes liberal* ideas in a political process. But if liberal processes lead to illiberal outc
by aaronbwebber 9y ago
Why do you value democracy? My answer would be because democracy realizes liberal* ideas in a political process. But if liberal processes lead to illiberal outcomes, what do you do? I don't think you can argue that the past ~40 years of housing policy in California have produced liberal outcomes - there's been an immense concentration of wealth, particularly in property, displacement of underprivileged communities, exorbitant housing costs for many people, and hugely negative environmental impacts.
I'm willing to sacrifice liberal processes to get liberal outcomes. To somewhat invert the meaning of an aphorism, the means do not justify the ends.
* to be clear, we're talking about small-l liberal here, not "liberal" as in "left of center" as it is frequently (mis)used.
- ralusek 9y agoIf you want to be extra clear, what is "left of center" is not actually liberal at all, and I wish we wouldn't call them that. Liberal values tend to be centered around individual liberties and universal values. Leftist values tend to be centered around communal equality and values of group identity. I would argue that they are political opposites rather than making the case that the far left is just an extreme version of liberalism, because it isn't at all.