Mark Lilla: The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics

Mark Lilla's "The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics" maps out a return to power for liberals. To me, the book more accurately outlines the path back to a less divisive America. He borrows from the religious vocabulary to describe our modern political era as divided into two "dispensations." In Christian theology, a dispensation is an order that prevails at a particular period of history. He labels the first dispensation, the Roosevelt Dispensation stretching from the New Deal up until the 1970s. The second dispensation, which he calls the Reagan Dispensation, began with the election of Ronald Reagan and has now ended with the presidency of Donald Trump.

Lilla describes how the Roosevelt Dispensation was dominated by the idea that Americans were joined in a collective effort. That citizens must work together to protect one another against risk, hardships, and the denial of our constitutional rights. As Americans, we felt a duty to each other.  The hard crawl out of the Great Depression, the fight against fascism in World War II, the rise of unions, the Civil Rights movement all called for shared sacrifice and an attempt to create equality and solidarity to the benefit of all.

America then entered a new era where the growth of suburbia and the breakdown of the family created a sense of isolation and detachment. The Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal alienated Americans from their government. These events planted the seeds of distrust in the halls of Washington.

Into this scene, rode Ronald Reagan, preaching Individualism epitomized by the cowboy mythology of his Hollywood days. Reagan's mantra was that government was the problem, not the answer. If government lessened regulations, individuals would prosper. Everyone could pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Greed and an attitude of every man for himself replaced a belief in our commonality. The "we" was supplanted by "me."

By the 1990s, liberals had moved in this direction as well. Adopting identity politics which reflected Reagan's focus on the self. Rather than an emphasis on unity, the identity politics presently championed by liberals breaks up into a rainbow.

Young people are no longer taught to aspire to something greater than themselves, serving the country or the community. Instead, they are encouraged to look inward. Rather than remaking society, we seek to transform ourselves.

Liberals, rather than losing, ceded the playing field. The nation has been without a real political vision for close to sixty years. The lack of political vision has reached its nadir with the administration of Donald Trump. There no vision in the current White House beyond whatever benefits the president personally.

Lilla's advice to liberals  is to promote the concept of "citizen." To educate the public on how to re-engage with politics. That instead of more marches and protests, there is a need for people to run for office.  For liberals to win back power, they need to reconnect with middle America. Leave the wi-fi enabled coffee shops and sit down with people who think differently. After all, liberals would seek to protect and understand differing views in a foreign land. Why not in "fly over" America? We are all in the same boat.

I'd argue that this is not just a prescription for liberal ascendancy but a plan for a return to real representational democracy. It seems to me that both political parties have lost touch. Even though they profess to represent the people, they truly represent those with the money to line their pockets.