Post-liberals on the left and right would strongly argue that they recognize the dignity of man. Indeed, they believe that the failures of classical liberalism have violated and degraded that dignity. Yet I fear that they offer an alternative that is a variation of believing that angels can govern men.
By seeking to strip away classical liberalism’s restraints on the power of the government over the individual, more-authoritarian post-liberals fail to acknowledge and control for the profound spiritual truth that rulers are just as fallen and just as prone to sin as those they seek to rule.
In fact, our modern class of post-liberals consistently demonstrate why they are so dangerous. Through their all-too-common cruelty, cancelations, and profound intolerance, they demonstrate day-by-day that their governance would be anything but benign.
But cruelty and oppression are hardly the only concerns. Rulers can be actively malevolent, but they can also simply be wrong. Our fallibility is part of our fallen nature. Thus our Constitutional structure not only guards against malice, in many respects it reflects existential humility. Free speech and religious liberty permit us to debate policy and even truth itself. Due process protections require a degree of certainty before any deprivation of liberty. Separation and diffusion of power can limit the impact even of profound mistakes.
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