The Lilla Manifesto

The Wall Street Journal has an article by Columbia University humanities professor Mark Lilla in which he describes what he believes has gone wrong with liberal politics. He argues against identity/victim group politics which has typified the Democrats in recent decades.

The politics of identity has done nothing but strengthen the grip of the American right on our institutions. It is the gift that keeps on taking. Now is the time for liberals to do an immediate about-face and return to articulating their core principles of solidarity and equal protection for all.

The article is an overview of his forthcoming book The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics and he writes as a concerned liberal of the old-school FDR variety. As you will see many references to the Lilla article in political opinion columns, you owe it to yourself to read it.

Most conservatives will immediately see the truth of his argument, which automatically makes it highly suspect on the left. As we wrote recently, it is nearly impossible for Democrats to back away from the la Raza and Black Lives Matter activists, the LGBTQ single issue radicals, the men-hating feminists that have become their core constituency.