The Retreat of Western Liberalism by Edward Luce is a book that I saw reviewed in the New York Times and found the review compelling. It is hard to pass by a book written by an editor of the Financial Times who is saying that we have to pay attention to the risks to our democracy.
Started: 7/4/2019
Completed: 7/7/2019
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: The New York Times
Review:
It is important to recognize that this book was published just as Trump came into power. It anticipates many of his actual moves and it is also misses some of his difficulties. Regardless, this is an excellent book that spells out the nature and design of the threat to to liberal democracy.
For starters, there is a little bit of hypocrisy. "For all the emphasis we place on our multicultural cities, they epitomize our oligarchic reality. In the US, the more liberal a city's politics, the higher the rate of inequality." Now, this may seem to make no sense, but my wife pointed out that living with people of different means, different cultures, and different races (like what happens in a city) is what leads to a liberal point of view. Compound that with how wealth is focused in a city (as described by Luce) and this odd dichotomy becomes a little more understandable (though still a tad shocking).
Trying to understand Trump's election in terms of Jackson or any other leader brought to the fore by the mob, Luce points out that "Plato believed that democracy was the rule of the mob....In his view, the mob could not distinguish between knowledge and opinion." Whether Plato was right or not, Trump has made a conscious effort to mislead with cries of "fake news" and unremitting, relentless lies. If the mob cannot distinguish between knowledge and opinion, Trumpism further confuses the issue by eliminating facts.
Luce argues that war with China is likely due to the Thucydides trap. "What struck Keynes's contemporaries as plain only in hindsight stands in full view before us today. Historians call it the Thucydides trap....How does an established power react to the rise of a potential challenger?...A 2012 Harvard study...found that in eleven [of fifteen] cases since 1500...the trap had culminated in war." Luce puts the timing for this as 2020 and says the start will be around the islands that China has built and fortified in the South China Sea. This analysis does not require a crystal ball and is an excellent hot spot to identify.
So, why isn't the US likely to just lift itself out of this mess by virtue of "the American Spirit?" "Almost 60 per cent of the US labor force are now paid hourly wages rather than annual incomes. The median hourly wage is $15.61...Most of America's truck drivers are now independent contractors. They are known as sharecroppers on wheels." The risk in the economy has been shifted from companies to individuals while the rewards remain with the companies. This means that the population as a whole is at risk with little ability to withstand the realization of that risk.
"Champions of [Universal Basic Income] depict it as a magic wand for the complex problems we face. I fear it would help bring about a kind of Hunger Games, in which the poor are kept afloat while sating themselves on dog-eat-dog reality entertainment. UBI is also silent on the future of work." This book predates the Green New Deal as proposed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and I have a feeling that Luce would have a lot to say about her proposal which makes a serious effort to address the future of work.
"Education should not just be about getting a job. It must equip us to be full members of society." I think this is a dream. I agree with Luce, but it simply does not seem to be happening and the colleges and universities of the US are complicit.
"There is no precise measure of the health of liberal democracy. But we can be sure that America will not become great again under Trump. There will be a lethal mood of betrayal and frustration when he fails. Who knows where that could lead."
It is important to recognize that this book was published just as Trump came into power. It anticipates many of his actual moves and it is also misses some of his difficulties. Regardless, this is an excellent book that spells out the nature and design of the threat to to liberal democracy.
For starters, there is a little bit of hypocrisy. "For all the emphasis we place on our multicultural cities, they epitomize our oligarchic reality. In the US, the more liberal a city's politics, the higher the rate of inequality." Now, this may seem to make no sense, but my wife pointed out that living with people of different means, different cultures, and different races (like what happens in a city) is what leads to a liberal point of view. Compound that with how wealth is focused in a city (as described by Luce) and this odd dichotomy becomes a little more understandable (though still a tad shocking).
Trying to understand Trump's election in terms of Jackson or any other leader brought to the fore by the mob, Luce points out that "Plato believed that democracy was the rule of the mob....In his view, the mob could not distinguish between knowledge and opinion." Whether Plato was right or not, Trump has made a conscious effort to mislead with cries of "fake news" and unremitting, relentless lies. If the mob cannot distinguish between knowledge and opinion, Trumpism further confuses the issue by eliminating facts.
Luce argues that war with China is likely due to the Thucydides trap. "What struck Keynes's contemporaries as plain only in hindsight stands in full view before us today. Historians call it the Thucydides trap....How does an established power react to the rise of a potential challenger?...A 2012 Harvard study...found that in eleven [of fifteen] cases since 1500...the trap had culminated in war." Luce puts the timing for this as 2020 and says the start will be around the islands that China has built and fortified in the South China Sea. This analysis does not require a crystal ball and is an excellent hot spot to identify.
So, why isn't the US likely to just lift itself out of this mess by virtue of "the American Spirit?" "Almost 60 per cent of the US labor force are now paid hourly wages rather than annual incomes. The median hourly wage is $15.61...Most of America's truck drivers are now independent contractors. They are known as sharecroppers on wheels." The risk in the economy has been shifted from companies to individuals while the rewards remain with the companies. This means that the population as a whole is at risk with little ability to withstand the realization of that risk.
"Champions of [Universal Basic Income] depict it as a magic wand for the complex problems we face. I fear it would help bring about a kind of Hunger Games, in which the poor are kept afloat while sating themselves on dog-eat-dog reality entertainment. UBI is also silent on the future of work." This book predates the Green New Deal as proposed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and I have a feeling that Luce would have a lot to say about her proposal which makes a serious effort to address the future of work.
"Education should not just be about getting a job. It must equip us to be full members of society." I think this is a dream. I agree with Luce, but it simply does not seem to be happening and the colleges and universities of the US are complicit.
"There is no precise measure of the health of liberal democracy. But we can be sure that America will not become great again under Trump. There will be a lethal mood of betrayal and frustration when he fails. Who knows where that could lead."
No comments:
Post a Comment