My new book: *Liberalism Pro & Con* …

… will be published in March by Connor Court Publishing.

Liberalism: Pro & Con

By Stephen R.C. Hicks
Foreword by Parnell Palme McGuinness
Paperback, 110 pages, ISBN: 9781925826821
[Stephen Hicks Australian Tour Release: March 2020.]

Why take up the strongest arguments? In this primer, our method starts by taking up the best arguments for and against liberalism. I make fifteen arguments for liberalism and fifteen against. These fifteen arguments on opposite sides of the debate are not exhaustive but include those that have had the most staying power over the long history of argument and counter-argument about liberalism. The reason they have had that staying power is that each identifies and stresses a genuinely important value at stake in politics …

The Pro & Con

Liberalism increases freedom
People work harder in liberal societies
People work smarter under liberalism
Liberalism increases individuality and creativity
Liberalism increases the average standard of living
The poor are better off under liberalism
Liberalism generates more philanthropy
More outstanding individuals flourish under liberalism
Liberalism’s individualism increases happiness
Liberal societies are more interesting
Tolerance increases under liberalism
Sexism and racism decrease under liberalism
Liberalism leads to international peace
Liberalism is the most just system
Liberalism is more moral in its political practice

Versus

Humans are not intelligent enough for freedom
Human nature is too immoral for freedom
Liberalism is amorally self-interested
Liberalism’s individualism is atomistic
Liberalism is materialistic
Liberal societies are boring
Power is the reality, so liberalism is naïve
Liberalism does not guarantee that everyone’s basic needs will be met
Liberalism is unfair
Equality is threatened by freedom
Scarcity means that freedom is dog-eat-dog
Liberalism is unsustainable
Liberalism is socially inefficient
Liberalism is merely another subjective narrative
Freedom does not exist

More information at the publisher’s site. The cover image is Pere Borrell del Caso’s Escaping Criticism (1874).