IRVING KRISTOL’S CRITIQUE OF DEMOCRACY
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doktorant na Wydziale Prawa i Administracji Uniwersytetu
Warszawskiego
Publication date: 2020-01-28
Studia Politologiczne 2009;13
ABSTRACT
The article discusses selected aspects and values of democracy in the views of one
of the most prominent American neoconservative thinkers, Irving Kristol, often
referred to as ‘the godfather of neoconservatism’.
It starts with a diagnosis of liberal democracy in times of its crisis. According
to Kristol, the condition of American society threatens the future of the culture
based on Western civic-bourgeois values. Every moral authority is nowadays
being put into question. This constitutes a great danger as no society can totally
reject wisdom based on the experience of past generations. Moreover, no society
can survive without religion, which supplies answers to the most fundamental
questions. In this respect, Kristol argues that a liberal form of censorship favouring
Christian morality should be established.
In general, the problems of contemporary democracy should be dealt with
by applying the ideas of the Founding Fathers. Inspirations can be found in the
American Revolution, which was ‘a revolution of sober expectations’, as Martin
Diamond called it, contrary to the present habits of mind described by Kristol
as ‘the revolution of rising expectations’. Thus, America can only be healed by
restoring the republican spirit, which has been overwhelmed by the ‘democratic
ideology’ justifying all the desires and demands of man. Such a prescription,
however, makes the author of the article raise several questions.