The past and present of catholic anti-liberalism

Philosophically, it is notoriously difficult to define what liberalism is.Politically, however, liberalism appears to be increasingly identified with poorly regulated financial capitalism, a popular culture centred on mindless consumption, and a professionalised politics dominated by corporate and special interests.If this is what liberalism is, then it cannot be described as a success.Contemporary liberal societies are characterised by enormous inequalities that have produced severe asymmetries in political power.To say nothing of the rise of an exploitative 'gig economy', the devaluation of any non-profitable work that sustains families and local communities, and the depletion of the environment.Emphatic opposition to these developments has rarely come from the right.An increasingly influential group of conservative scholars in the United States is an exception to this rule.Their two most well-known figures, Adrian Vermeule and Patrick Deneen, have managed to find a broad audience with their writings.Deneen's Why Liberalism Failed (2018) has been translated into multiple languages, and has even received an endorsement by former President Barack Obama.Vermeule, a professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School, has gradually attained the status of a globally recognised conservative thinker.In their latest books, Common Good Constitutionalism and Regime Change: Towards a Postliberal Future, Vermeule and Deneen lay out their distinctly anti-liberal visions.Their ambition is to revive a pre-modern Catholic tradition of political and legal philosophy in response to liberalism's failings.Vermeule's and Deneen's intellectual project is worth taking seriously.For one thing, they are spearheading a growing movement on the right that has 'brought *