Regime Change: Towards a Post Liberal Future

Notre Dame political science professor Deneen (Why Liberalism Failed) argues in this bracing polemic for a new kind of noblesse oblige in American politics. Describing the current political elite as simultaneously self-serving and contemptuous of the traditional social institutions valued by everyday people, Deneen contends that many on the right have embraced a short-sighted and self-destructive politics of resentment, crystallized in their continuing support for former president Trump. Conservatives, he argues, need to instead focus on fostering a new elite that favors what he calls a “common-good conservatism,” combining the left’s faltering (in Deneen’s view) commitment to working-class economic interests with the right’s commitment to promoting social stability through support for family, country, and church. Drawing on Aristotle, Machiavelli, Tocqueville, and other political philosophers, Deneen argues that this new elite will emerge organically if policies that promote “mixing” between the classes are implemented. He proposes a range of both left- and right-wing populist policies, such as mandatory national service, the expansion of the House of Representatives to make representation more fairly proportional, German-style workers councils that include employees in corporate decision-making, and the relocation of federal government offices out of Washington, D.C., and across the country. Deneen’s unusual blend of solutions makes for a provocative take on the future of American political culture. (June)