Liberalism In America

This Volume Was Published In 1919.. Excerpts From The Book:What Seems The Most Stifling Thing About The Pres- Ent-Day World! Surely Not Its Ignorance Nor Its Materialism Nor Its Lack Of Aesthetic Color Nor Its Eco- Nomic Injustice. We All Realize The Evils Of These Quali- Ties Yet When We Try To Sum Up The One Quality Which Appears Most Characteristic Of What Oppresses Us In Our Environment Today We Are Not Likely To Emphasize Any One Of These Evils. Instead It Seems To Me We Are Likely To Put Our Attention On A More Intangible Evil The Con- Temporary Strident Harshness Of Temper The Almost Fanatical Intolerance Of Opposing Leadership And Doctrine. For Indubitably The Worst Evils Of The War Have Been The Spiritual Evils. We In America Are In A Better Posi- Tion Than Other Countries To Realize This Because We Have Suffered Less Than Any But A Few Of The Minor Belligerent Powers — Almost The Entirety Of Our Young Manhood Has Been Returned To Us. In Fact It Sometimes Seems As If We Had Richly Paid For Our Material Good Fortune In The War By A Progressive Spiritual Degeneration. Respect For The Individual Has Almost Vanished; And Nietszche Him- Self Would Be Astonished At The Transvaluation Of Values In The World Since 1914 Which Has Made Power About The Only Thing To Be Respected — And Then Not So Much Re- Spected As Feared. .............................................................................................. Now The Central Weakness Of The President Was As I Have Said The Central Weakness Of American Liberals In General. It Would Be Absurd To Say That Many Of The Injustices At Home And The Imperiahstic Proposals For Abroad Did Not Receive Vigorous Condemnation At Their Hands. Some Of The Shrewdest Criticism Of Events From A Liberal Point Of View Are To Be Found In Our American Journals Of Opinion And Even During The War Itself Many Of Our Newspapers Could Be Read With Profit. But The Central Weakness Remained: Whenever A Skeptic Pointed Out Certain Unpleasant Realities Not In Consonance With Our Professions He Was In The Last Analysis Always Met With The Same Retort That The Ideal Was So Great That Sacrifices Must Temporarily Be Made For It.. Chapters:. I. What Liberalism Is . Ii. The English Heritage And The American Development . Iii. American Liberalism To The Eve Of The War . Iv. The Emotional Break-Down Before War-Hysteria . V. Timidity And The Seductions Of Office Or Career . Vi. President Wilson: The Technique Of Liberal Failure . Vii. Political Symbolism And The Mob. Viii. Debacle Of Pragmatism Note To Chapter Eight . Ix. Leadership . X. The Future . Bibliography