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1-Page Summary of Death of the Liberal Class

Overview

If you listen to conservative talk radio or watch television shows hosted by politically conservative personalities, you might get the impression that left-wing ideas are threatening American traditions. A good example is higher education. The liberal agenda of colleges and universities have been a hot topic for years now in those types of media outlets, as well as on political platforms.

Liberalism is in decline. In the past, there were many people who believed in liberty and equal opportunity for everyone. But now that belief is disappearing fast.

Liberals are dying a slow death, and the consequences of this will be felt in America. It’s because liberals don’t want to hear other points of view, especially if they’re conservative. This is why the media is liberal; it doesn’t present different points of views. Liberals also won’t stand up for the little guy anymore. Finally, we went to war against a noun (terrorism).

Big Idea #1: The liberal class has failed to protect American workers from exploitation.

There are two groups of people in the United States: Republicans and Democrats.

There are two kinds of people: conservatives and liberals. Conservatives support business interests, while liberals support the rights and welfare of everyday people in society.

Liberals have been losing power and influence in recent years. They’ve failed to protect the rights of normal people, such as workers who are suffering because they’re being outsourced to developing countries like China or India.

To illustrate this, let’s look at the life story of Ernest Logan Bell. This is a typical example of how working class people live in America.

A 25-year-old veteran has been unemployed for several years. He doesn’t have much money or many prospects, and he feels increasingly alienated because of it.

Many people lost money in the recent financial crisis. The U.S. government should have policies and laws that would prevent another crash from happening again, so that working families don’t lose their savings.

The government had the power to create laws that would protect consumers from predatory banks, but it didn’t. As a result, families are just as vulnerable now as they were before.

The liberal class has not achieved its stated goals. They have failed to protect people from exploitation and neglect. But, the problems of the liberal class go beyond this superficial analysis.

Big Idea #2: The liberal class has purged itself of radicals and unconventional thinkers to its detriment.

The problems with the liberal class aren’t just that it hasn’t delivered on its promises. This group also has internal problems, such as a lack of critical thinkers within its ranks.

Dissidents and radicals are critical to society. They can identify social problems and find solutions. However, these people are virtually non-existent in today’s liberal circles because the liberals themselves don’t want them around.

Over time, liberal thinkers began to exclude and expel those who had radical ideas.

In 1956, people who had unpopular opinions were blacklisted from television shows. These people were also denied funding and jobs by liberal organizations, like universities and the media.

A political philosopher named Sheldon Wolin criticized the rise of corporate power and was labeled a communist sympathizer. That label prevented him from getting his ideas published.

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Many intellectuals and artists were expelled from the country. This was done quietly, without much fuss or fanfare. The most common punishment for voicing unwelcome ideas was to simply pull support for those people. They lost opportunities to publish their work or speak at events. Some of these people essentially ended up with no livelihoods because they weren’t allowed to continue working in their fields anymore. As an example, the author himself had trouble publishing his work after criticizing United States foreign policy objectives (for example, a speech he gave before 1,000 guests).

Death of the Liberal Class Book Summary, by Chris Hedges