Can Liberalism Be Saved?

"Sunstein has written a new book, called "On Liberalism," which is a defense of the idea of liberalism at a time when Sunstein believes it is under threat from both the right and the left. The book barely mentions Donald Trump or contemporary politics, however, and instead provides a defense of a general liberal belief system, which Sunstein breaks down into eighty-five features."

"Cass Sunstein has been one of the most prominent and prolific legal scholars in the United States. A onetime faculty member at the University of Chicago Law School, Sunstein co-authored, with Richard Thaler, the 2008 book "Nudge," which advocated for government policies that pushed citizens to make certain decisions without restricting their choices. (One example: Asking people who are getting their driver's licenses whether they would like to be organ donors rather than leaving them to sign up for it on their own.)"

A prominent legal scholar promoted policies that steer citizens toward certain choices without removing options, exemplified by asking new drivers whether to become organ donors. That scholar served in the Obama administration as head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, overseeing federal regulations, and attracted criticism from the right as an overzealous regulator and from progressives for seeming too deferential to markets. A broad defense of liberalism presents a capacious conception that includes New Deal and classical liberal traditions as well as figures like Ronald Reagan, outlines eighty-five defining features, and contends liberalism faces threats from both right and left.

Read at The New Yorker