Liberalism and Its Critics.

The essay argues that liberalism is presently under siege institutionally but has no persuasive intellectual critics. The essay lays out the components of liberalism as a preface to arguing that these have not been intellectually challenged so much as institutionally subverted. The components are an emphasis on fear, commitment to separation of church and state, acceptance of modernity with a regime of individual rights such as freedom of religion and of employment, emphasis on the individual's capacity for self-creation, and, finally, emphasis on the need to check disparities in social power such as those enjoyed by big business. The critics examined are the Republican Party and the movement known as integralism. The latter's intellectual implausibility has not hindered it having a surprising hold on judges and legislators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]