The Crisis of Liberalism According to Kessler

In the middle of his talk with Beach City Republican, Kessler denoted the two crises which Liberalism will face in the near future:

1. Fiscal --  As British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher quipped: "The problem with socialism is that it runs out of other people's money." The government can only transfer wealth, cannot create wealth. As the government gets larger, as the sources of revenue dwindle and the number of dependents increase. Liberal states in the United States are hemorrhaging under heavy debt and entitlement burdens. Red states which have advanced a polity of less government, lower taxes, and more local control are recovering more quickly.

The percentage of public spending has increased from 19% to 22% of the United States' GDP. With the spending spree that never ends, the ratio will increase to 25%, and transform this country into a European-like socialist state.

2. Philosophical -- Liberals have argued that right and wrong, truth and error, are relative. Kessler identified this core tendency in Obama's autobiography "Dreams From My Father." The President admitted at the beginning that he transformed specific individuals into hybrid accounts. He did not tell the truth about his life, exactly. Instead, he gave an idealized vision which would generate a glorious legacy for himself and his views. This loose relationship with the Truth should be enough to raise concerns with any prescient voter who expects an element of integrity from our leaders.

Obama was a confused young man, and he found some stability in the power to influence others. His community organizing days solidified his identity as a communicator who would stir up sentiment with lofty rhetoric, but no real policies.

As Liberalism under Obama advances its cause of expanding government, the state will have no justification beyond its own power. If there is no standard to legitimize the state, then what is "liberalism"? "Might makes right" is not a respectable political philosophy, but atavistic opportunism. Any self-respecting intellect who espouses such views will struggle with such an abominable result: Caliban looking in the mirror, and finding that the ugly truth of raw power fails as the source of security for man in a fallen world.