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Same and Different

I happened upon a copy of the American Riflemen magazine  in the metro that some passenger had forgotten to take. It was interesting to browse through the publication and also read the editorial that was about protecting this fragile thing that is freedom in America. The idea of protecting freedom and liberty has universal appeal and yet the vehicle used to do so that make it an infinitely fractious issue. These lines from the book Why Liberalism Failed seemed particularly relevant in making sense of that editorial 

 One of the key differences between “conservatives” and “progressives” today is over whether liberalism can and should see its primary locus as the nation or the world. Both sides share the view that liberalism is a universalist philosophy, but they differ over how best to advance that universalism. Mainstream conservatives have sought to advance liberal universalism through the vehicle of the nation, primarily through globalized economic policy and aggressively interventionist and even imperialist militarism. Liberals believe that the nation-state must eventually be superseded by global governance, best represented today by the European Union. Both sides of this project—the two faces of liberalism—have failed.




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