Source: Liberal Currents
by Adam Gurri
“In arguing for liberal democracy and against dictatorship, my own tendency is to emphasize a set of common problems all types of societies face in the modern world and to explain why liberalism offers the most practical tools for addressing them. While one might argue that advocating for liberal rights and representative institutions counts as standing ‘for things’ rather than against them, it is possible to advocate in an entirely ‘ameliorative, mitigating spirit’ as Schliesser put it. For societies exhausted by years of open ethnic conflict, or experiencing the always precarious transition from dictatorship to democracy, that mitigating spirit may be more than enough. The practical merit of liberalism for achieving social peace under difficult conditions cannot be overstated. Nevertheless, liberals have no need to settle for this negative vision.” (11/12/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/liberalisms-positive-vision-must-be-the-open-society/