Be it Resolved, liberalism gets the big questions right
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What is the event and resolution introduced at the start of the debate?
If we look at how the world has grown more prosperous, in our countries and in others, it is because of free markets and liberal economics.
Freedom for the many rather than just the few requires collective action and a government prepared to tame market tyrants.
When you go down that path, You wind up either with the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia or on a typical American campus today.
How free are we really in liberal societies? I would say not free at all.
On this special episode of the Monk Debates podcast, we are going to provide you with the very best moments of the recent Monk Debate on the crisis of liberalism. It took place in the fall of 2023 in front of a sold-out crowd of 3,000 people at Toronto's Roy Thompson Hall. The resolution before the Monk membership, be it resolved, liberalism gets the big questions right. Arguing for the motion was American writer and columnist who has shaped a generation's thinking on important issues, George F. Will. His debate partner was the former British cabinet minister and recently knighted Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg. Opposing the motion was UK journalist and self-avowed libertarian communist Ash Sarkar. She was joined by the thought-provoking and up-and-coming American conservative thinker Saurabh Ahmari, author of the bestseller Tyranny, Inc., How Private Power Crushed American Liberty.
As with all our Monk Debates, the audience voted on the resolution prior to the debate's start. Initially, that vote, 75% in favor of the motion. Liberalism gets the big questions right. 25% were opposed. Well, what happened over the ensuing 90 minutes? How was this audience's opinion swayed by our debaters? We'll give you the results of the final audience vote at the end of this podcast. But first, let's join the debate in progress with George F. Will giving his opening statement in favor of the motion. Liberalism gets the big questions right.
Liberalism gets the big questions right to keep the peace. That's the fundamental problem in politics is social peace. And liberalism gets the big questions right by leaving many big questions out of politics. Is there a God? How should we worship? What is virtue? How should we promote it? Should we have false consciousness purged and true consciousness inculcated? Liberalism doesn't do that. Liberalism recognizes that the great problem of politics is that human beings are opinionated and egotistical. They like their opinions, and they have different opinions, yet they have to live together in peace. Liberalism is often faulted as pedestrian and boring. I prefer to say it has heroic modesty. It does not presume to tell people how to find meaning of their lives in politics.
Genuflecting at the altar of politics is illiberal and produces illiberalism. My partner Jacob is a devout Catholic. I describe myself as an amiable low voltage atheist. It doesn't matter. We can live together in a liberal society because the government is neutral about such things. Some people in politics say, let's envision the best and pursue it. Prudent classic liberals say, let's define the worst and avoid it. And Lord knows we've had enough of those. Classic liberalism, let's define it with economy. It believes there is a settled human nature and that natural rights are derived from that. Natural rights are rights that history teaches us are essential to the flourishing of people with our nature.
All illiberal politics in the last two centuries has begun by saying that there is no fixed human nature, that human beings are merely products of the culture they find themselves raised in, that malleability is the most important feature of human beings, and therefore, Firm, hard-driving, coercive politics is justified to produce the proper consciousness in people. False consciousness must be gone. People must be conditioned. Speech must be limited because it does harm by giving people the wrong consciousness. The vocabulary of liberalism cannot cope with that. And when you go down that path, You wind up either with the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia or on a typical American campus today.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the event and resolution introduced at the start of the debate?
0:01–11:48
2
How does George F. Will argue that liberalism secures social peace and markets?
11:48–44:43
3
What criticisms does Ash Sarkar raise about liberalism, inequality and climate?
44:43–1:18:05
4
How does Jacob Rees‑Mogg define liberalism and defend free markets and property rights?
1:18:05–1:27:26
Speakers
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