Liberalism for the left

Many of us have read with pleasure and profit the blog of Norman Geras, a left-leaning Briton and staunch supporter of the war on terror. Here he has summarized his credo in what he calls the Euston Manifesto. Read the whole thing. And you might want to compare his thinking with that in former New Republic editor Peter Beinart's just published book The Good Fight: Why Liberals–and Only Liberals–Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again.

I'm not sure that "only liberals" can do these things, but they certainly could help. I haven't read Beinart's book yet but look forward to doing so. I gather from conversations with him and a quick scan of the contents that he describes the strong liberal tradition of fighting tyranny, a tradition personified by Cold War liberals like Harry Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Hubert Humphrey, Walter Reuther, and Reinhold Niebuhr. It's certainly a tradition worth celebrating and reviving–especially since it seems so remote from the thinking of so many who style themselves liberals today.