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The Impotence of Liberalism

Not sure if a three-or-so-pronged thing constitutes a rabbit hole, but I saw a tweet that featured a video of a podcast that summarized a book, which was clipped from liberally in a New Yorker article I was reading. The original tweeter said that the gist, Ezra Klein lamenting modern liberal do-nothingism, hewed as close as anything he could figure to his own personal politics. After listening/reading to the above, I echo the sentiment. The cut-and-thrust is that, with their hearts in the right place, Democrats implemented layers of worker/consumer protections that while on their own seem valuable when stacked create the quagmire effect that has effectively rendered the Democratic party completely impotent. The feet required for forward progress snagged in the boomeranging-around bolas of their own righteously-slung bolas. It makes sense but what I come away with is this: if there was any vestigial libertarianism in me yanking me in a direction, it’s this-a-ways. A lingering allergy to bureaucracy tendency to hinder instead of help. On the one hand, Ezra Klein argues, a free-for-all à la China would likely (no, not likely-definitively) spell disaster for worker safety, environmentalism, e.g. but it does, alas, get trains and houses built. I am just naive and optimistic enough though to not buy the dichotomy of 1) stagnant liberal impotence mired in regulatory slop on the one hand and 2) wanton reckless libertarianism that puts us all in danger, stampedes on the rights of the little guys and torpedoes the natural world on the other. I’m sorry- there must be a good sense middle ground living somewhere between the two.