M. Grégoire

"Eighteenth century Russia, for example, was exposed to the heady distillation of Enlightenment liberalism: beards were shorn, wild Pskovian murmolkas and dazzling Bukharan chapans were banished in favour of powdered wigs and panniered gowns à la mode française, and the cognoscenti dulled their wits on Diderot. But it didn’t take. Russia remained, and remains, obstinately allergic to the allures of liberal government."

#HowardAnglin

https://thehub.ca/2026/05/19/can-we-save-liberalism-from-itself/

#liberalism
#TheHubCa

Can we save liberalism from itself?

Is liberalism eating itself alive? A provocative analysis of how progressive ideology might be undermining the foundations of liberal democracy.

The Hub
May 20 at 9:40amWeb
Show threadM. GrégoireMay 20
"Bonner’s core thesis is that liberalism rests on, and is an outgrowth of, five axioms that are distinctly Christian in origin. They are that human beings are “universally equal and flawed,” possess “free will,” and are “autonomous individuals,” and that “the world is divided into spiritual and secular realms,” and “history is progressive and teleological.” [... W]hile all five axioms are taken for granted today, each was unknown to, and would have confounded, pre-incarnation Greeks and Romans."
Show threadM. GrégoireMay 20

I suppose I agree with all five axioms — to a point. Probably the idea that "history is progressive and teleological" is the one I least support: technology and science have progressed, but society seems to move in cycles, and I doubt that history has any direction.

That does not mean things can't get better (many things have) or absolve us of responsibility to try to improve things.

#progress

Show threadbarsoomcoreMay 20
@mpjgregoire a teleological view of history DOES absolve us of responsibility to improve things, and I’d argue is part of what has brought the world to crisis today. Things only get better if we MAKE them get better.