Features January 2014
Why liberals are conflicted over patriotism and western values
John Woike / Hartford Courant
Why is patriotism, in English-speaking societies, mainly associated with conservatives? After all, measured against almost any other civilizational model, the Anglosphere has been overwhelmingly progressive.
It is true that the individualism of English-speaking societies has an anti-socialist bias: There has always been a measure of resistance to taxation, to state power, and, indeed, to collectivism of any kind. But look at the other side of the balance: equality before the law, regardless of sex or race, secularism, toleration for minorities, absence of censorship, social mobility, and universal schooling. In how many...