The Failure of Liberalism

8/18/2019 The Failure of Liberalism

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The Failure of Liberalism

It is with a stern and heavy heart that I announce the abject failure of Liberalism. This statement is

not through flippancy but comes from looking at the world around us. In amongst the news stories

about the “Panama Papers” and the “lobal !conomic "risis” the #uestion of $what went wrong$seems to keep coming back to us. In the %&st "entury' with laws' regulations and systems in place'

the world is still a very une#ual place where the rich seems to play with the lives and prosperity ofmillions. Is it just human nature( )re we destined to carry on making these mistakes and living in

such an une#ual world. Perhaps we made a wrong turn some where. Perhaps we chose to emphasise

the wrong characteristics from the myriad of possibilities.

*or proof of this we need look no further than the fact that the written constitution has become theundisputed cornerstone of state creation. No sooner has a desire for independence or 'regime

change' been aired then a call is made for, and subsequent work is carried out on, a written

constitution. In fact few countries, with the United Kingdom being a notable exception, do without

having a codified constitution. et, the prevalence of the written constitution toda! does not

necessaril! mean that the! exist in order to proclaim and embod! a higher truth. "hilst #lato

extrapolated the details of his '$epublic' in order to deal with often practical concerns, he never the

less was attempting to discover a route to %ustice as &en%amin owett ( explained in his introduction)

*...+ for %ustice is the order of the tate, and the tate is the visible embodiment of %ustice under the conditions of human societ!. -he one is the soul and the other is

the bod!, and the reek ideal of the tate, as of the individual, is a fair mind in a fair bod!. In /egelian phraseolog! the state is the realit! of which %ustice is the idea.

*owett. 01(2+

It is a matter of somewhat questionable certaint! whether we could sa! the same toda!. "here the

state is the embodiment of the constitution it therefore holds that the constitution should, be striving

to describe the ideal) the higher truth3 %ustice. 4las, we often relegate this concept to the realm of the

%udiciar!, happ! that the right to a fair trial and freedom of speech absolves us of seeking %ustice in

all its forms. 5n the fringes of the debate we hear mention of social %ustice and placate ourselves

with some forms of charitable work or donation. "e have however missed the point somewhat.

"hilst our states and their formative constitutions are clear and practical legal documents for all to

admire, few, I would hesitate, are devised with a clear understanding of what truth is in itself3 but

rather the! cop! and pass on an idea of certain natural rights. -he! therefore strive to achieve a fair

balanced societ! without actuall! knowing what one is. Inevitabl! the! are reactionar!, that is

attempting to correct the errors of prior s!stems. -his being the case the! often overcompensate in

some wa! or rel! on generall! accepted concepts of %ustice in order to appease all.

6urope as a whole has in fact arrived at a point in histor! where the onl! trul! acceptable form of

constitution, and therefore state, is one that provides for a representative democrac!. -his has become such an accepted part of 6uropean politics that it has been enshrined in the 6uropean Union

& ee http)77www.gutenberg.org7files7(2897(289:h7(289:h.htm accessed 2th 4pril 01(;

-here are man! things in this world that we

take for granted) unwritten rules of behaviour or

basic principles of right or wrong. /owever,

most things have at one point in our histor!

actuall! been debated and decided upon. 5ver

time these ideas then enter the social fabric andmake up our subconscious s!stem for dealing

with the world.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1497/1497-h/1497-h.htmhttp://www.gutenberg.org/files/1497/1497-h/1497-h.htmhttp://www.gutenberg.org/files/1497/1497-h/1497-h.htm


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treaties as well as in the "ashington -reat!. -he second feature that has become unquestionable is

the existence of a capitalist econom!. 6uropean states are engineered in such a wa! as to be

conducive to this arrangement and in fact create the impression that there is no other viable form.

-his is further strengthened b! the four pillars of the 6U, placing emphasis on flow of capital

amongst other things.

/owever, whilst some prominent economists have over the centuries explored the benefits anddrawbacks of a capitalist econom! their ideas do not seem to have been fundamental to

contemporar! constitutions3 moreover, that little thought has been done on what the best basis of

an! give constitution should be seems evident from the essential preamble to the constitutions3

where little emphasis is placed on defining and %ustif!ing the economic s!stem preferred and in fact

these seem to paraphrase each other.

truth, %ustice, good and beaut!>. /owever, the preamble states them rather in passing as

opposed to making direct reference to them)/aving regard for the existence and future of our /omeland,"hich recovered, in(8?8, the possibilit! of a sovereign and democratic determination of its fate,"e, the

#olish Nation : all citi@ens of the $epublic, &oth those who believe in od as thesource of truth, %ustice, good and beaut!,4s well as those not sharing such faith but

respecting those universal values as arising from other sources,6qual in rights andobligations towards the common good : #oland *A+

It is not of course the case that concepts of a definitive truth have never been directl! dealt with in

other constitutions. It follows that concepts proclaimed in the 4merican Beclaration of

Independence were still held b! the writers of the U =onstitutionC, the most famous of which were)

/owever, we see that the framers believed that certain rights were self:evident. -his, is from a

philosophical point of view somewhat of an empt! statement2. -hat said, if we take that the! are

indeed self:evident then we must question what actual rights have been put forward. Dife, Dibert!

and /appiness are enshrined in the U =onstitution !et are we to believe that these represent

%usticeE Is having the libert! to live in povert! %ustE -he writers of the constitution were in fact

heavil! influenced b! ohn Docke and his ideas of 'Natural Daw'. -he phrase 'self evident' thus

concerns the natural 'god given' nature of such rights.

% ee http)77www.se%m.gov.pl7prawo7konst7angielski7kon(.htm accessed 2th 4pril 01(;

+ ee http)77www.ushistor!.org7Beclaration7document7 accessed 2th 4pril 01(;

, ee https)77philosoph!now.org7issues70(7"hatFisFnaturalFaboutFNaturalF$ights accessed 2th 4pril 01(;

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are

created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with

certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty

and the pursuit of Happiness!

http://www.sejm.gov.pl/prawo/konst/angielski/kon1.htmhttp://www.sejm.gov.pl/prawo/konst/angielski/kon1.htmhttp://www.sejm.gov.pl/prawo/konst/angielski/kon1.htmhttp://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/https://philosophynow.org/issues/21/What_is_natural_about_Natural_Rightshttps://philosophynow.org/issues/21/What_is_natural_about_Natural_Rightshttp://www.sejm.gov.pl/prawo/konst/angielski/kon1.htmhttps://philosophynow.org/issues/21/What_is_natural_about_Natural_Rightshttp://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/


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ohn Docke

$eturning to #oland, in comparison #oland's constitution removed itself even further from the

philosophical premise that such rights exist. &! focusing on the holder of such beliefs and their

equalit! before the law the #olish =onstitution sterilised the effectiveness of said rights. -his is

perhaps in part due to the unspoken belief in the validit! of such rights and methods as eluded to

above. -he Beclaration of the rights of

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The Failure of Liberalism