Rose on Liberalism

As Eugene (Fr. Seraphim) Rose wrote in his short book, Nihilism: The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age, Liberalism is the first and mildest of the four stages of Nihilism, preparing the way for the harder stuff. Liberalism, he says, is

a passive Nihilism, or, better yet, the neutral breeding-ground of the more advanced stages of Nihilism…. The incompetent defence by Liberalism of a heritage in which it has never fully believed, has been one of the most potent causes of overt Nihilism.

That description has the perfection of genius. Liberalism incompetently defends a tradition, civilization, society in which it does not really believe. How much of modern politics and culture is encompassed in that one sentence!

Posted by Lawrence Auster at August 27, 2009 03:39 PM | Send