Good News From the Left

This is one of the most encouraging things I've seen from liberals collectively in several years. It is the Euston Manifesto (HT:PM), an articulation of what used to be called liberal beliefs. I would caution that these are British small-l liberal academic bloggers, and we don't know whether this depth of sanity will travel well.

There is plenty for conservatives to disagree with here, mostly of the "Yes, but..." variety. Yet these are people you clearly can have a discussion with. I knew there were sane liberals out there, just waiting to coalesce.

I wonder what they will call themselves? "Neo-liberals" has a nice symmetry in today's political landscape, though they might prefer something more distinctive. If they go the Neoliberal route, they will have about a 30% philosophical overlap with the neocons. Over time, that overlap might increase, and they'd all just be "Neo's." As it would be mostly superannuated Boomers who have grown cynical about many things, the name would be more than a little ironic. No problem. Irony has always been very hip with us.