I do think that a general liberal arts education is very important, particularly in an uncertain changing world.
When Goldberg’s ‘Liberal Fascism’ came out in January 2008, his employer ‘National Review Online’ announced that Tribune Media Services, which carries Goldberg’s opinion columns, had ‘nominated’ Goldberg for a Pulitzer in commentary.
I had a liberal arts education at Amherst College where I had two majors, mathematics and philosophy.
I’m not a big fan of journalism schools, except those that are organized around a liberal arts education. Have an understanding of history, economics and political science – and then learn to write.
I was 10 when I left Kulm, N.D. I had a wonderful childhood there, out playing in the mud. We moved to California then, but I still went to Catholic school, didn’t grow up very sophisticated or very liberal.
I am so glad that as a party the Liberal Democrats are united in our resolve to fight for staying in the EU – it means we don’t need to waste time on internal infighting.
I’ve become very, very liberal as far as war is concerned. It’s just too terrible. I’ve been to wars and I’ve seen what happens. I know what it is to be hurt, and it’s nothing compared to these guys. To be blind for the rest of your life. To have prosthetic limbs.
In my estimation, there should always be a mixture of economic liberalism – which means small government, a great emphasis on markets – but also a certain degree of social conservatism, not to favor change unless that change is beneficial. So I describe myself as an economic liberal and a social conservative.
Liberal democracy – as you know, in the old days, we were saying we want socialism with a human face. Today’s left effectively offers global capitalism with a human face, more tolerance, more rights and so on. So the question is, is this enough or not? Here I remain a Marxist: I think not.
