The past few years have been rough for conservatives with a commitment to liberty. Illiberalism seems to be flourishing on both the left and the right, and even when Donald Trump finally exits the political scene, we will still be left with rising generations that seem indifferent, at best, to ordered liberty. It feels as though our backs are against a wall. At such a moment, it is prudent to be open to new alliances with anyone, on the right or left, who genuinely values freedom and democracy. The Atlantic’s Yascha Mounk clearly qualifies under that description, as he proves in his latest book, The Identity Trap. It’s the kind of work that might lead thoughtful conservatives to reflect on the potential rewards of a cross-spectrum “liberal alliance.” But it also shows why that alliance is so hard to forge.
Undoubtedly, Mounk’s concern about liberal democracy is sincere. He has written three books on the subject just over the past five years. Much of that work would elicit a shrug from right-leaning readers; for instance, his 2018 The People vs. Democracy decried the rise of right-wing authoritarians across the globe, presenting a slate of concerns about populist resentment, the erosion of constitutional norms, and the dangers of “fake news.” Conservatives are certainly familiar with those concerns and sometimes share them, but it’s hard to take death-of-democracy angst too seriously when the doomsayers seem unbothered by the aggressive strains of illiberalism that increasingly dominate their own political team. But lo! Mounk is bothered. The Identity Trap focuses on left-wing threats to democracy, and especially on what conservatives would normally call “identity politics” or “woke politics.” He views this as a serious threat, both to liberal democracy and to the people who become “trapped” in its gloomy, unforgiving logic. In this latest work, he applies himself to the task of distilling the movement’s central claims and rebutting them point by point.
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