Rebellion: How Antiliberalism Is Tearing America Apart--Again by Robert Kagan
A five-star book for changing my view
I mostly award a five-star rating to a book because it significantly changes my outlook on a topic. This book changed my outlook.
In Rebellion, Robert Kagan argues that what he terms “antiliberalism” is a fundamental part of the American experience. As long as there has been an America, there has been antiliberalism. Of course, antiliberalism—that is, opposition to individual liberties and democratic decision-making—is nothing new in history. Kagan suggests that antiliberalism is the default setting of most political entities; liberalism a profound, recent exception. Even as the Founders were seeking independence and then establishing a federal government, the forces of antiliberalism remained very much alive. And, Kagan argues, this germ of antiliberalism remains endemic in American politics. This is a disorder, a virulent disease at its worst, that seeks to extinguish the order established in the new nation by colonial practices, the Declaration, and the Constitution, and it remains alive and active, although seeming sometimes dormant. But at other times, outbreaks cause significant harm to the liberal order of democracy and the rule of law. We are now in the midst of a significant outbreak.
Until reading this book, I’d never thought that a persistent and pervasive opposition to the constitutional order had existed, the pre-Civil War and Civil War South providing the obvious exception. Of course, there were other times when what I’d term “illiberalism” came to the forefront, but I thought this attitude was a fleeting remnant of a dying, incoherent set of scattered beliefs. But after reading this work, I no longer hold this perspective. There is no single, overarching school of thought or ideology that drives American antiliberalism; indeed, put all of America’s antiliberals in a single room, and fisticuffs would soon break out. Antiliberals include those of the extreme right and the extreme left. Note, however, that I contend that despite all of our history of anti-Communist hysteria, the threat—and reality—of the extreme Right has always been much greater than that of the Left in US history (and now). Kagan’s book reinforces my opinion on this topic. Before now, I suppose I’ve been under the sway of opinion that the U.S. has been a liberal nation from the beginning, such as argued in Louis Hartz’s The Liberal Tradition in America (1955). Of course there had been incidents in American history where liberal practices and principles were ignored or overturned; again, slavery and Jim Crow are the obvious examples. And there were all kinds of discriminatory practices—and outbreaks of violence—against all manner of persons and groups: Catholics, the Irish, Hispanics and American Indians, workers, women, those espousing anything having to do with “socialism” or “communism,” and so on (at distressing length). But before reading Kagan, I’d thought these were manifestations of illiberalism which would sooner or later succumb to the liberal outlook and our liberal tradition and laws. But according to Kagan, these were not just passing annoyances, but serious and potentially lethal threats to the American political regime that was established pursuant to the principles and guidelines set forth in the Declaration and Constitution (including its amendments).
I’d heard of Kagan before the current rise of the right in the form of Trump and MAGA, but only as a foreign policy neoconservative and historian of American foreign policy. Not being of the neoconservative bent myself, I never before dove into his work. But his recent Jeremiads aimed at Trump and the MAGA cult published in the Washington Post (here and here) brought his work to my attention, and thus, my reading this book. It’s clear that Kagan interrupted his work on his complete history of U.S. foreign policy to address the threat of Trump by writing this book. And while it’s about much more than Trump and MAGA, which are only the most recent—and potentially lethal—threats to liberalism, a/k/a American democracy. Kagan’s grounding in American history is impressive and put to good use in this work.
As a final thought to share, here’s what Kagan states about Trump in the book, which I find one of the most succinct and telling summaries of the Trump phenomenon:
Donald Trump might seem an odd choice to lead the greatest rebellion against the American liberal constitutional order since the Civil War. He certainly had no such grand ambitions when he first ran for office. Indeed, given Trump’s unquestionable place as one of the most significant figures in American history, it is remarkable how petty and trivial his ambitions really were. He ran for president on a lark, more as a business and branding venture than out of interest in actually being president. He believed he had no more than a 10-percent chance of winning when he first ran. He had no program—he worked out his first campaign platform with Roger Stone—and no commitment to any particular set of policies. Over his decades in public life, he had veered back and forth between liberal and conservative positions, and also between the two parties. Such shiftiness is not unusual for politicians, but he was not even consistently a politician. He was first and foremost a businessman, consistent only in his desire to make money, expand the Trump brand, and serve his own ego. Even his closest advisers and supporters never doubted that his interests were entirely selfish. Yet his uncanny ability to appeal to a certain type of voter gave him a unique charisma for many Americans. The nature of that appeal was clear from the beginning: Trump made himself the leading spokesman and defender of white Christian supremacy in America.
And here’s a ray of optimism:
The tragic irony is that if Americans can get through this coming crisis with their liberal democracy intact, then the greatest danger may have passed. Trump’s movement is not unique, but Trump probably is. His fanatical narcissism, his lack of regard for anyone but himself, his demand for constant adoration, his fury at those who criticize him, and his repeatedly demonstrated willingness to use the power of government for his own personal purposes, including exacting revenge against his enemies, puts him in a special category. Americans are unlikely to find another like him running for office anytime soon.
I hope that his last sentence, his prediction, proves correct!
There’s a great deal else in this book about both the American past and present that I won’t seek to recount in full. Anyone reading this is likely a member of the choir anyway. But if you need a pep talk or if you’re still bewildered by what is happening to our nation (and I still am, the excellent efforts of Kagan and others notwithstanding), then I highly recommend this book to you.