Quote of the Day – Liberalism and Social Democracy are Different
“American readers may be struck by the frequent references to social democracy. Here in the United States, such references are uncommon. When journalists and commentators advocate public expenditure on social objectives, they are more likely to describe themselves – and be described by their critics – as ‘liberals’. But this is confusing…A liberal is someone who opposes interference in the affairs of others: who is tolerant of dissenting attitudes and unconventional behavior. Liberals have historically favored keeping other people out of our lives, leaving individuals the maximum space in which to live and flourish as they choose. In their extreme form, such attitudes as associated today with self-styled ‘libertarians’, but the term is largely redundant. Most genuine liberals remain disposed to leave other people alone. Social democrats, on the other hand, are something of a hybrid. They share with liberals a commitment to cultural and religious tolerance. But in public policy social democrats believe in the possibility and virtue of collective action for the collective good.”
- Tony Judt, Ill Fares the Land, 2010.
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“They share with liberals a commitment to cultural and religious tolerance. But in public policy social democrats believe in the possibility and virtue of collective action for the collective good.”
If you changed that quote to say a commitment to “striving for truth in the context of cultural and religious respect”, I would say I’m a social democrat. Tolerance by itself has come to mean “unwillingness to recognize that different assertions can have different truth values”.
Without the word “truth” appearing anywhere in our statement of goals, the formula is not a Catholic one.
Jeff, could we add, “…striving for truth in the context of cultural and religious respect, and acting upon that truth.”?
Also, I think it would pay Catholics who consider themselves “conservative” to try to apply a historical understanding of the development of liberal ideas in the wake of the withering away of classic Christian civilisation in Europe. The fact is that “social democracy” much more nearly approximates its paternalistic and communalist social ideal of privileges, responsibilities and self-sacrifices (mis-labeled “feudalism”) than “liberalism” or “libertarianism” does.