Introduction A RETURN TO NATIONALISM

The key idea which frames the entire book is the Hazony claim that way to many Travelers on the Spaceship Earth see the independent Nation as no longer essential:  “The new world they envision is one in which liberal theories of the rule of law, the market economy, and individual rights—all of which evolved in the domestic context of national states such as Britain, the Netherlands, and America—are regarded as universal truths and considered the appropriate basis for an international regime that will make the independence of the national state unnecessary (p. 8).” So, to be liberal, and the use of the word liberalism ala the Hazony frame of reference, means to put all attention to the arrogance of self-love (as Adam Smith characterized it), to the arrogance of self-interest only, to the freedom to choose without any kind of influence from the family, clan, tribe and the Nation built on common ground among same.  Classical liberal Adam Smith would agree to that problem, as the moral sentiment --- a community of shared moral sentiment, really being about moral community not order per se --- shared across the family, clan, and tribes was to influence the economy and society.

Being liberal, liberalism, and liberal theories to Hazony means operating on a path 0G very close to the vertical axis of the typical DIT Figure 1 without regard for the shared other-interest with the family, clan, tribe and Nation as represented on path 0M. Liberal, liberalism and liberal theory to Hazony also means favoring selfishness without any form of selflessness to temper it. The latter requires some sacrifice in the freedom to choose, some sacrifice in self-interest only, as illustrated on path 0Z.

So, warning to the reader:  Hazony mixes liberalism coming from a kind of distorted view of classical liberalism with “being a liberal” and claims both types as represented in liberal theory  focus too much on the individual being free to choose to do whatever said individual wants to do. And, while “being liberal” may have some of said flavor, liberalism as in classical liberalism does not. Hazony tends to misrepresent classical liberalism as something framed by Libertarians. And, while it has largely evolved on that path 0G close to the vertical axis of Figure 1, that is not what classical liberalism as framed by Adam Smith had in mind in pointing to path 0Z.

So, choose your next Part.  Here we go.

The Virtue (or Not) of Nationalism

Introduction A RETURN TO NATIONALISM

Part One NATIONALISM AND WESTERN FREEDOM, Chapters I-VII.

Part Two THE CASE FOR THE NATIONAL STATE, Chapters VIII-XVIII. 

Part Three ANTI-NATIONALISM AND HATE, Chapters XIX-XXV

Conclusion THE VIRTUE OF NATIONALISM