被扭曲的自由主义——当代美国自由派的产生及困境

Distorted Liberalism——The Emergence and Predicament of Contemporary American Liberals

自由派是当今活跃于西方的自由主义左翼。在美国,自由派则泛指民主党以及支持它的社会激进左派。自由派将他们的政治立场和观念视为普世和进步的价值,从二十世纪六七十年代以来不断推进新社会运动,一定程度上促进了民主和自由。然而,自由派的激进政策同样为当代美国政治带来了严重的困扰,身份政治、政治正确造成的负面影响愈演愈烈,同时左翼的政策也越发脱离实际,自由派的政治主张实际上已经偏离了自由。究其原因,是由于自由这一概念在思想史的演进中被变换了本意。自由主义及其支持者在历史发展中也变得愈发激进,建构理性主义与一元论逐渐成为了激进自由主义的内核,而这恰恰是最容易导致极权政治的诱因——以最崇高的实现人类救赎的动机制造了地狱般的结果。如何反思当今美国自由派的主张和逻辑,对于加深理解现代西方政治,助推我国治理现代化具有一定意义。

Liberals are the left wing of liberalism active in the West.In the United States,liberals generally refer to the Democratic Party and the radical left of society who support it.The Liberals regard their political stand and ideas as universal and progressive values.Since the 1960s and 1970s,they have continuously promoted the new social movement,which has in turn pushed democracy and freedom to a certain extent.However,the radical policies have also brought serious difficulties to contemporary American politics.The negative effects of identity politics and political correctness are becoming serious,the policies of the left wing increasingly divorced from reality.The political views of the Liberals have actually deviated from freedom.The reason is that the concept of freedom has been changed into passive freedom in the evolution of the history of thoughts.Liberalism and its advocates have become increasingly radical in the evolution of history.Constructive rationalism and monism have gradually become the core of radical liberalism,which is precisely the most probable cause of totalitarian politics,that is,to cause misery with the most sublime motive of redemption.How to reflect on the ideas and logic of American liberals today is of great significance to deepen the understanding of modern western politics and boost the modernization of China's governance.