Jane Austen’s Virtuous Liberalism

Many writers level the following challenge at liberalism: it must either betray itself or fail to defend itself. Remain tolerant, and it will fall to the intolerant; become intolerant, and it will cease to be liberalism. Remain neutral, and it will fall to the militant; become militant, and it will cease to be liberalism. Critics of liberalism often press either (or both) of these charges. To be a liberal, they say, is to be a loser, a toothless or gutless naïf. Or to be a liberal is a mere pretense, cloaking a substantive agenda or even a desire to dominate.