THOUGHT LEADERS
Liberalism Has Failed. Now What? A bold new proposal to combat the woke left
conservative,” says Yoram Hazony, “considers national and religious traditions key to strengthening the nation and to maintaining it over time.”
In a recent episode of “American Thought Leaders,” host Jan Jekielek talks with Hazony, chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation, president of Jerusalem’s Herzl Institute, and author of the new book “Conservatism: A Rediscovery.” Hazony believes that the myopic focus on individual liberties by both old-style liberals and many conservatives has led to the destruction of the family and national cohesion, giving rise to an ever more radical left. JAN JEKIELEK: I’ve
enjoyed your book, “Conservatism: A Rediscovery,” so let’s start off there. Why does conservatism need to be rediscovered? YOR AM HAZONY: A lot of
people associated with the conservative movement for decades have asked themselves exactly that question. As I write in the book, my wife and I, and my friends, were activ52 I N S I G H T July 1–7, 2022
ists and enthusiasts of the conservative movement in the 1980s. President Reagan, Prime Minister Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II were locked in a struggle against communism. Today, there’s a very strong interpretation that the 1980s conservatives were only concerned with individual liberties and the free market. Those of us who were there wouldn’t have recognized this interpretation. Now, liberties are obviously important, but it’s impossible to conserve anything by a movement that’s only interested in individual freedom. Without any other principles, individual freedom isn’t about conserving anything. It’s the opposite. It’s saying, “We don’t owe the past anything.
We don’t have any duty of handing down and transmitting things.” MR . JEKIELEK: I’m going
to read a line from your book: “Five years of political upheaval from 2016 to 2020 was all it took to shatter the hegemony of enlightenment liberalism.” So,
enlightenment liberalism is shattered? MR . HAZONY: Enlighten-
ment liberalism is still alive in the hearts and minds of people who believe in it, but the number of those people is quickly decreasing, and their influence has, in fact, been shattered. When you look at the history of liberalism after World War II, by the 1960s, there was a consensus that the philosophy of the West was liberal democracy, which was a new term. It was based on individual freedom. In 2020, we saw something very different. The New York Times—the
“If you don’t go along, then you’re not going to be a member of society in good standing.” Political theorist Yoram Hazony, chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation, president of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem, and author.
