Despite Trump, liberals remain optimistic about the future

The second “Liberalism for the 21st Century” conference, held in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, turned out to have highly symbolic timing: The event, which focused on the danger of democracy’s slide into authoritarianism, coincided with the deployment of military patrols in the nation’s capital and the disturbing sight of military vehicles near Union Station and iconic monuments. Speakers at the conference warned of the danger of complacency in the face of creeping repression. Yet overall, the message of the conference, which featured renowned speakers as cognitive psychologist and author Steven Pinker and Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, was one of resiliency and long-term optimism, not defeatism.

Journalist Shikha Dalmia — founder of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, which sponsored the conference — opened with a stark warning about President Donald Trump’s rapid “authoritarian consolidation.” In her words, “We are getting a first-hand taste of what happens when liberal democracy starts to collapse. … America has stunningly shown that it had no exceptional institutional immunity to the authoritarian virus.”

The resistance, Dalmia said, must come from liberalism — not necessarily in the modern American political sense that presupposes affinity with progressive social values, but in the classic sense of commitment to “tolerance, pluralism, equal protection under the law, and accountable rulers.” She also noted that in order to defeat the authoritarian threat, liberals need to not only put aside but frankly discuss their differences — for instance, how seriously to take the threat of illiberalism from the left.

The conference organizers certainly did an impressive job of addressing some of these differences. One panel, for example, featured a debate on the divisive topic of whether immigration restrictions are incompatible with liberalism — an issue that poses tough questions of when concerns about the social effects of large-scale migration are legitimate and when they are bigoted.

Another panel, discussing the key topic of how well American institutions are coping with assaults from the Trump administration, had some pronounced disagreement as well. Former Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus was harshly critical of the Supreme Court, while Harvard legal scholar Jack Goldsmith asserted that it hasn’t “done anything obviously wrong” in deciding on challenges to the administration — and has meaningfully stood up to it in some important areas.

A particularly fascinating panel looked at the “philosophical roots of illiberal movements,” tracing the history of authoritarian nationalism and populism in the 20th century. While the focus of the panel was on perils from the right, one of the speakers, journalist and political science lecturer Damon Linker, also noted that the left has contributed to the current crisis by failing to respect “liberal neutrality" — public institutions treating people fairly regardless of their social and ideological outlook. When citizens with conservative values have reasons to fear that those values will be trampled by the ideological left, many will seek support from a militant right that openly promises to use the muscle of the state in their favor.

Pinker ended the conference on an optimistic note with a discussion of the benefits humanity has reaped from the “Enlightenment values” of tolerance, pluralism and rational inquiry — and with a vision of a liberal resurgence after authoritarianism is defeated. But first, that defeat needs to happen — first and foremost at the polls, but more broadly through civic education. In the two weeks since the conference, this administration has gone even further in trying to muzzle critics and override state power to impose its will. Authoritarian consolidation must be countered by liberal consolidation across political differences.

The kind of dialogue seen at the conference on liberalism was a small but important step in charting such a course.

Opinions expressed by Cathy Young, a writer for The Bulwark, are her own.

By Cathy Young

Cathy Young is a writer for The Bulwark.