Why liberalism is withering on the vine

Liberal ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity cannot be optimised except in small communities

Nothing explains the looming end of the liberal vision than the naivete of two widely-held ideals. The first is Adam Smith’s. He said: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.”

The other is the even more naïve slogan of the French Revolution: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”. Words which form a central part of our own preamble and which