Source: Liberal Currents
by Guillaume AW Attia
“The failure of liberal-minded politicians to keep government officials accountable is a cause for great fear, especially when those state actors are perceived to be actively and intentionally undermining the public’s sense of security. As the American philosopher Judith Shklar explains, what she calls the ‘liberalism of fear’ regards ‘abuses of public powers in all regimes with equal trepidation.’ Knowing that ‘every page of political history’ teaches that ‘some agents of government will behave lawlessly and brutally in small or big ways most of the time unless they are prevented from doing so,’ a liberalism that considers the propagation of fear in society an evil will worry ‘about the excesses of official agents at every level of government.'” (10/15/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-politics-of-fear-in-american-history/