A Great Liberal

[BL611]

I realize that their is another thread on Arthur Schlesinger's death, but rather than dwelling on that, I wanted to start one remembering his life. There is probably simply no intellectual that has had the impact on me that he has.I remember as a teenager reading Chomsky, and Zinn, and the rest of the "cannon" of the far left, and being introduced to Schlesinger as the evil "establishment liberal".Growing out of my teenage angst, I got tired of listening to lefty's whine about everything thats wrong with society without having any idea's or true commitment to changing it. While I was in the Army I picked up a copy of Schlesinger's "The Vital Center" still having in my mind the caricature of him presented by Chomsky & Co., and the book completely blew my mind. It crystallized everything I was thinking about politics and put it in coherent form. It showed me that real liberalism wasn't about whining about what's wrong with the world, but using democracy to change it. The dedication to politics that I have now is no small amount due to the hope of democracy, and this country that I in large part developed reading Schlesinger's work.It's too bad he couldn't have stuck around a little longer to see someone like Obama, who so totally embodies Schlesinger's views of a leader become President. R.I.P. Arthur.

[JohnnyLib2]

1. Yes! He put "real liberalism" in print as you said.

I was in college and a new voter at the time of JFK's election and the excitement about Schlesinger's ideas seemed to sweep right through the colleges.

And yes, there is a similarity to Obama's current following. I hear it from high school and college students; the MySpace generation is flat-out behind him these days.

Hail to A.S.!

[Sal Minella]

2. A liberal is someone who believes man is neither brute nor angel

was the quote NPR gave from him this morning, along with a sound bite from an NPR interview of him saying a national policy of peremptory war is disastrous.

[BL611]

3. Yup

the brute nor angel thing, was part of the Niebuhrian philosophy toward human nature he brought to his work. Niebuhr was pretty dense for the average person, without a strong background in political philosophy and Christian theology Niebuhr was pretty hard to read. In the Vital Center Schlesinger was able to make Niebuhr accessible to a popular audience, and his historical work also echo's the complex nature of humanity .