Liberal Guilt Won't Save Us

A very short note on the limits of liberal self-criticism

I was reading Freddie deBoer’s excellent essay when I was struck by this particular passage:

“I do think that the time for self-criticism is always, and I think that we would not be in this mess were it not for years of politically suicidal behavior from elite liberals.” - Freddie deBoer in ‘Things are Real Bad, Folks.’

There’s a common narrative among moderates and centre-left types: today’s Trumpian politics is the result of ‘liberals’ – American terminology for left-leaning folks – silencing dissent and enforcing implausible orthodoxies.¹ Alienated and resentful, people turned to authoritarian agendas.

Now, I think that this narrative is fairly plausible. But as a conceptual story, it risks erasing too much. Largely in response to this, I myself have argued that partisans should publicly own up to their side’s own mistakes to rebuild civic trust. However, I think the ‘liberal guilt’ story isn’t perfect. As liberals, when we overdo self-blame, we heavily imply that every illiberal turn is the fault of liberals.

There are two things wrong with this. First, we deny the agency of those who decided to vote for a person whose policies are deemed authoritarian by many. It suggests that if liberal elites hadn’t adopted ‘woke’ policies, people would have continued singing a more centre-left or moderate tune. But it’s not as if authoritarianism was the only outlet available; you can critique your own side before jumping ship. That’s what self-critical liberals like Freddie and I try to do — and what more people should, too. But the self-criticism story (by itself) pretends people are only reacting to liberals, when in fact some were reaching for illiberalism on their own.

The second problem is that this story is pretty patronising. It suggests illiberals are ruled only by vengeance while liberals are uniquely able to contain their emotions. This is clearly false. In the 2010’s, many liberals did let their emotions and gut reactions to certain socio-political issues sway their opinions. But anger, disillusionment, resentment, fear, and bitterness are not partisan emotions (how could they be?).

My point is simple: not everyone responds to these things by embracing authoritarianism. I’ve been bugged by many morally backward policies, ill-informed takes and sheer wishful thinking on the left. But I don’t think it’s a good idea to respond to anti-Semitism on campus by threatening to remove funding for medical research. I don’t respond to complaints about media bias by torching NPR just because it smells a little left-leaning.

So, while I have some sympathy for people who feel alienated, excusing those who support illiberalism as merely “reacting” while blaming liberals for everything is a serious double standard. We should hold illiberals accountable for the choices they make, just as we hold liberals accountable for theirs. Liberal self-criticism is a strength; liberal guilt won’t save us.

“Well then, what will save us, smartypants?” I don’t know. But maybe liberalism needs a little self-criticism of its self-criticism.

1. Another gripe: in U.S. political discourse, “liberal” is shorthand for anything progressive or left-leaning. But plenty of very left-leaning ideas are actually illiberal. Personally, I’d rather reserve “liberal” for the Mill-style, classical sense — but what can you do. In this post I mostly use “liberal” in the American sense, but it should be clear when I’m talking about the broader political philosophy of liberalism.