thenewrepublic:

How should liberals approach Occupy Wall Street?

“To draw on the old cliché, the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend. Just because liberals are frustrated with Wall Street does not mean that we should automatically find common cause with a group of people who are protesting Wall Street. Indeed, one of the first obligations of liberalism is skepticism—of governments, of arguments, and of movements. And so it is important to look at what Occupy Wall Street actually believes and then to ask two, related questions: Is their rhetoric liberal, or at least a close cousin of liberalism? And is this movement helpful to the achievement of liberal aims?”

-The Editors, “Protests and Power,” in TNR’s November 3rd issue.

I really think that Americans have a strange sense of “liberalism” and “liberality”…

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  1. romanticnovel reblogged this from thenewrepublic
  2. lazersilberstein reblogged this from thenewrepublic and added:
    Not merely an unproductive article, but detrimental. But hey, I’ll prove your point for ya and unfollow your tumblr. How...
  3. rootsofunity reblogged this from thenewrepublic
  4. thatpowellgirlalix reblogged this from thenewrepublic
  5. officialchoke reblogged this from thenewrepublic and added:
    Here’s the thing the people protesting wall street don’t even really know what it is the want. Listen to then m on...
  6. justinspoliticalcorner reblogged this from thenewrepublic
  7. nhaler reblogged this from thenewrepublic and added:
    I really think that Americans have a strange sense of “liberalism” and “liberality”…
  8. nhaler said: Actually, isn’t skepticism one of the first tenets of /conservatism/, at least in the Burkean-sense? I really can’t tell where you’ve drawn this from.
  9. eterp reblogged this from thenewrepublic
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