The Player and the Referee

Official WoC house philosopher Samuel Kimbriel joins Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic to discuss the role that ideas had in the recent elections. Specifically, they focus on whether it was bad ideas or bad political strategy that doomed the Dems.

Sam insists that the Democrats failed because liberalism as we understand it has become weak, devoid of ideas and moral persuasion. Liberals, Sam insists, constantly shift from wanting to be a player in the political contest, to a referee of the same. They argue for their side and its views, until they start losing in the contest. If they start losing, they shift to a referee role, and try to rule out the legitimacy of certain opposing ideas (for example, immigration restrictionism). What we need, Sam says, is a renewed liberalism that is unafraid to make moral claims — one that plays and plays well, without tying to also be the referee.

Damir disagrees. He isn’t sure whether what happened on November 5 will be seen as revolutionary — that is, an overthrow of a previous order — or merely “an empty, peasant backlash,” though he is leaning toward the latter. Regardless, “what happened is a failure of rulership, not ideas,” he says. “It was not a failure of metaphysics, but of arguments.”

Shadi stands between Sam and Damir, sometimes as referee, sometimes as a player on Sam’s side. He supports democracy and the idea of moral politics. And he believes that Damir “always attacks us [Sam and Shadi] for having beliefs,” while hiding or being in denial of his own implicit metaphysical convictions.

In the bonus segment for paid subscribers, Sam and Shadi corner Damir into finally admitting that he does indeed have metaphysical convictions of his own, even if that conviction is materialism. Damir talks about how he’s reading the Bible this winter, and he gives us his own definition of the word “politics.” It’s a rollicking discussion that you won’t want to miss!

Required Reading:

* Western Civilization: Paleolithic Man to the Emergence of European Powers — the textbook Sam cites at the beginning of the episode (Volume I, Volume II).

* The Problem of Democracy: America, the Middle East, and the Rise and Fall of an Idea by Shadi Hamid (Amazon).

* “Republicans See a Better Economic Outlook. Now It’s Democrats Who Don’t” (New York Times).

* Sam’s piece on the French Revolution and the contemporary Left (WoC).

* Ordinary Vices by Judith Shklar (Amazon).

* Damir’s piece about peasant revolts (WoC).

* “How the Ivy League Broke America” by David Brooks (The Atlantic).

* “A Letter Concerning Toleration” by John Locke (WikiSource).

This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets.

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