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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The essay doesn’t really answer the question asked.  It sort of dances around it.

Brooks still takes the conversation in an interesting direction. I think he is wrong that pluralism is the answer to the problem he identifies. At the end of the day, the morality and sacrifice of years past stretching into antiquity for the greater good was anchored to something people believed was real:  The Glory of Athens or for the Glory of God and sanctification or even for the glory of baseball.

But, either way, all of those are anchored on in-group/out-group constructs. Which are fundamentally incompatible with pluralism.  Brooks seems to suggest that he wants people to self-sacrifice for the greater good and be anchored to shared morality, but historically people have needed to believe in a cause greater than themselves for that. Pluralism sweeps away the foundation for belief. If everybody’s moral system is worthy of respect or confined to the private sphere than none can actually be true or be brought to the public sphere.

I agree with Brooks that we are not going back on pluralism and open society. But just as war and violence seems to be the fatal flaw of the moral systems of years past, perhaps the  hyper individualism and moral relativism is the fatal flaw of the Enlightenment that cannot be corrected?  [/quote]

Brooks cannot answer the question because the reason good Americans vote for the loathsome Donald Trump is pluralism utterly failed.  Brooks ends his piece calling for people to be "more willing to sacrifice some freedom of autonomy for the sake of the larger community."  Why would people do that?  A pluralistic society necessarily lacks shared values.

The promise of pluralism was adding diverse talent would create a rising tide to lift all boats.  While Brooks and his ilk are quick to point out the "number (GDP) goes up," they are reticent to note median outcomes in many important areas have suffered immensely since the 1970s.  If you make enough, you can solve these modern problems with money, but many (most?) Trump voters cannot use money they do not have so they vote for the Orange Clown.  Trump promises them a return to a time when they could buy a home and send their kids to most public schools without worry.  He won't deliver that, of course, but his promise is more than those people have gotten from politicians for generations.  And that's why they love him.  [/quote]

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