BOOKS Freedom’s Power: The True Force of Liberalism
By Paul Starr
Basic Books £15.99, 256 pages
FT bookshop price: £12.79
Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: The New Liberal Menace in America
By Stephen Marshall
Disinformation £9.99, 384 pages
FT bookshop price: £7.99
Liberalism is a series of paradoxes. It weakens autocratic power, and strengthens the democratic state. As it builds a strong state, it limits that state’s power over its citizens. Classic, pre-19th-century liberalism held out the promise of rights for all, but in practice denied them to the majority. As liberal democratic practice developed in the 20th century, state intervention to provide welfare grew - and liberals became less censorious, and more respectful, of private behaviour. Private life became more truly private while public life, the practice of government, became more open.
