Why Liberalism Failed

At the center of Deneen’s work is his claim that liberalism has failed because liberalism has succeeded: Liberalism has demonstrated its own failure “because it was true to itself” (3). In Deneen’s view, liberalism as an ideology or political system is intrinsically unsustainable thanks to its commitment to certain first principles and ideals that Deneen regards as deeply flawed.

Deneen critiques some of liberalism’s foundational assumptions about human nature and the political and social contract that underpins them. Due to its anthropological assumption that human beings are naturally free and inherently possess all that they need to be, liberalism demands that government and society at large ensure the maximum degree of individual freedom and choice instead of focusing on the common good. Liberalism also demands an ever-increasing possibility of choices through which individuals can design their lives. The problem is that liberalism allows for the worst tendencies of human beings to thrive (if certain individuals should choose to do so) by refusing to place certain limitations on the populace that would prevent a small subset of the most powerful and the wealthiest from becoming entrenched in positions of power.

As a result of this flawed understanding of human nature and society, Deneen believes that liberalism is ultimately unsustainable in a social, political, and even environmental sense.