Your realism about the contemporary state of liberal philosophy is endearing and disarming, Don. Thanks for clarifying. It's almost impossible to imagine a Democratic Party Platform these days that doesn't evaluate itself entirely by reaction. Where are the unshakeable 'eternal' motivations that guided our country to "freedom" at the time of the Declaration of Independence? Perhaps the next word to define here is 'freedom' itself!

The left has fractured... splitting into factions upon factions upon factions... which makes it ultimately vulnerable to "anyone" with a short term concern... and rendering it virtually void of long term constancy. And yet, it persists in our imagination... like some kind of dream... where people get along and actually speak reasoned ideas with voices that are confident of being heard and considered...
ttr