It’s time to consider Nietzsche’s view of liberal democracy. It couldn’t work, it couldn’t bind a nation together, he said. Why not? Because of its excessive moral idealism. The belief in equality and social justice, which he rightly saw as deriving from Judaism and Christianity, would lead to fragmentation. For politics would be dominated by various disadvantaged groups demanding respect. Any sort of unifying ethos would be treated as oppressive, the ideology of the ruling class. If virtue lies in weakness, and victim status, healthy politics is doomed.
It is emerging that he was largely right. Progressive politics, which affirms the liberal or humanist vision, seems to be collapsing. And it is collapsing in the way that he predicted: its rhetoric is dominated by concern for various victim-groups. And about half the nation (here and in the US) dislikes such rhetoric.
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