For you these from me, O Democracy, to serve you ma femme!
For you, for you I am trilling these songs.
-Walt Whitman, For You O Democracy
The self-defense of Ukraine is about more than the survival of a sovereign nation. It is the front line defense of liberal democracy against the darkness of authoritarianism. In its battle with Putin’s Russia Ukraine is reminding us about the meaning of the common good -- as well as truer notions of freedom and liberty.
For the last fifty years the common good has been under assault. One group of aggressors consists of the proponents of increasingly radical forms of economic libertarianism. Their notions of freedom and liberty are transactional in nature, limited to issues of profit and property. In Hayekian cynicism, more abstract but greater notions of individual rights – freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience and freedom of speech – are to these radicals at best, secondary; at worst, expendable. Several, like Putin, actually want to undo liberal democracy. Sadly, he has like-minded friends in the West.
Economic libertarianism is now hurtling towards extremism. Its proponents are Austrian School types such as Hans Hermann Hoppe, Thomas Woods and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. Contrary to the teachings of Adam Smith (1723-1790), this crop of libertarians reject the idea that we are all members of society. For them there is no such thing as society. Instead, they see only individuals engaging in transactions with each other. We hear their self-centered ideas echoed in Texas US Senator Ted Cruz when he talks of secession; we hear it in Missouri U.S. Senator Josh Hawley when he talks of exclusionary relations with our fellow Americans.
This is no accident. Peter Thiel, whose anti-democracy impulses are well documented, exerts financial and philosophical influence over today’s much of Republican party. To say the least, Thiel’s circle of authoritarian-minded acquaintances is disturbing. One example is Dark Enlightenment blogger Curtis Yarvin. Going by the pen name Mencius Moldbug, Yarvin advocates for liberal democracy to be replaced by an oligarchy called “Gov-Corp” where civil engagement by the average citizen would be subject to punishment. It is less than a stones throw from this dystopian nightmare to Putin’s Russia in which an oligarchical society that now punishes civil dissent with 15 year prison sentences.
Their dim outlook is increasingly devouring the sphere of the market. It has almost completed its destruction of the responsible stakeholder capitalism of the mid twentieth century. With this perversion of market norms almost accomplished, these same proponents now seek to impose their myopic market norms upon the other societal spheres, those of decency, governance and justice. We cannot allow this to happen. The common understandings of freedom and liberty cannot be reduced solely to contractual, property and transactional contexts. That would expedite death of liberal democracy.
Adam Smith long ago noted, “It is thus man, who can subsist only in society, was fitted by nature to that situation for which he was made. All the members of human society stand in need of each other's assistance, and are likewise exposed to mutual injuries. Where the necessary assistance is reciprocally afforded from love, gratitude from friendship, and esteem, the society flourishes and is happy.”
These dark-minded libertarians are in conflict with Adam Smith and his understanding of society and the common good. By extension, they are in conflict with the very idea of liberal democracy.
Liberal democracy has been under assault in recent years. Its aggressors are both internal and external, hostile autocratic leaders who export their ill-will toward representative government. The most obvious instigator is Vladimir Putin. The Russian president has been actively funding anti-democracy candidates throughout Europe such as Le Pen in France, Salvini in Italy and Orban in Hungary. Putin hates democracy. So do certain libertarian conservatives. Perhaps it is no surprise that GOP candidates backed by Peter Thiel such as J.D. Vance and Blake Masters oppose assisting Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion.
Vladimir Putin is personification of the assault on the common good as well as liberal democracy. He sees Russia as the defender of traditional Christian values – so called. It is a twisted view of Christianity predicated upon unChrist-like notions of exclusion, hatred and ultra nationalist violence. Its economic foundation is not based upon social democracy capitalism but instead unaccountable oligarchy. On this last point, there s not much difference between Thiel and Putin.
Putin is the totalitarian leader of a society that increasingly defines Russianness with association with the Russian Orthodox Church. This is a historically malignant part of that nation’s history. It was the basis of the pogroms against the Jews in the late nineteenth century as well as hostility towards Russian Protestants, Muslims and Catholics. It also is hostile towards other Orthodox traditions such as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This is in stark contrast with the Maidan Revolution of Dignity in 2014 that toppled the Yanukovych government which betrayed the will of the people by seeking ties with authoritarian Russia after its Parliament had voted for association with the European Union. During Maidan religious leaders of all denominations stood with the protestors – Ukrainian Orthodox, Eastern Right Catholic, Jewish and Muslim.
While Ukraine is not perfect in its democracy, it is at least making a stand for more abstract notions of liberty and freedom. It refuses to be dominated by an authoritarian bully. Yes, there are political parties in Ukraine that are far right such as Azov, Svaboda and Right Sector parties. But it must be kept in mind that these are fringe groups that are also hostile to the Zelenskyy government. At best, they are marginalized ideologies. A victorious Ukraine under Zelenskyy will go far in further marginalizing these pernicious political organizations.
But more importantly, Ukraine is showing the world that there are greater freedoms to fight for beyond concepts of profit and property. Society does matter and that we are not simply a collection of atomized individuals making transactions with each other. Defending ourselves from the arbitrary rule of tyrants is worth giving one’s last measure. This higher idea of freedom and liberty is in its most difficult battle for survival perhaps since 1945. We in the United States have much to learn from the Ukrainian concept of the common good as well as their deeper ideas of freedom and liberty. This is a war that will have much to say about our individual ability to think critically, express dissent and to associate with whom we freely wish to do so.
Russia must not be allowed to win in Ukraine. The outcome of that war may well determine the future of equality, tolerance, and democracy itself. It is the very defense of society itself.
Glory to those defending democracy.
Glory to those that understand truer notions of freedom and liberty.
Glory to Ukraine.