Sometime in the 18th century, the word equality gained ground as a political ideal, but the idea was always vague. In this treatise, Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn argues that it reduced to one simple and very dangerous idea: equality of political power as embodied in democracy. He marshals the strongest possible case that democratic equality is the very basis not of liberty, as is commonly believed, but the total state. He uses national socialism as his prime example. He further argues the old notion of government by law is upheld in old monarchies, restrained by a noble elite. Aristocracy, not democracy, gave us liberty. On his side in this argument, he includes the whole of the old liberal tradition, and offers overwhelming evidence for his case. In our times, war and totalitarianism do indeed sail under the democratic flag. This book, capable of overturning most of what you thought you knew about political systems, was first published in 1952.
In Liberty or Equality, Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn first examines the historical and current meanings of both democracy and liberalism, demonstrating why the two do not necessarily coincide. He then puts forward a series of propositions, the first of which is that the impulse of democracy as popular government is the pursuit of equality, and that this leads unavoidably--and has in fact led--to collectivism and oppressive totalitarianism. He presents the apprehensions of thinkers and observers who lived between 1790 and 1914 and who, in true Platonic fashion, feared the rise of totalitarian tyranny in an evolutionary or dialectical process out of the very essence of democracy. Their views are then coordinated with those of our near-contemporaries, offering the reader a cogent study in the history of ideas. The second proposition is that monarchy is a more serviceable form of government than democracy, and is likely to be more liberal. Here the author deals with the weaknesses and inherent dangers of the democratic doctrine, which are avoided or mitigated in monarchical government. The final proposition is that the political temper of historically Catholic nations is more liberal than that of Protestant nations. While the political temper of our own times dictates a new servitude of enforced equality--even alongside the ideal of negative freedom--arbitrary equality, writes Kuehnelt-Leddihn, is a natural impossibility. Complete liberty is likewise an unnatural concept. While both are unnatural conceptions, there is a practical solution to this dilemma that has confounded human history. Hinted at by the author throughout, it involves both a retrieval of the best of Catholic political and social thought, as well as the observance of a tested and venerable program of action: in necessities unity; in doubtful things liberty; in everything charity.
Sometime in the 18th century, the word equality gained ground as a political ideal, but the idea was always vague. In this treatise, Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn argues that it reduced to one simple and very dangerous idea: equality of political power as embodied in democracy. He marshals the strongest possible case that democratic equality is the very basis not of liberty, as is commonly believed, but the total state. He uses national socialism as his prime example. He further argues the old notion of government by law is upheld in old monarchies, restrained by a noble elite. Aristocracy, not democracy, gave us liberty. On his side in this argument, he includes the whole of the old liberal tradition, and offers overwhelming evidence for his case. In our times, war and totalitarianism do indeed sail under the democratic flag. This book, capable of overturning most of what you thought you knew about political systems, was first published in 1952.
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