The End of Liberalism: The Second Republic of the United States

"That’s right. Theodore Lowi was a political scientist in the United States. He published two versions of this book, one in 1969 and one in 1979. The subtitle of the second edition is called ‘The Second Republic of the United States’. What he wants to argue is that the old liberalism of the nineteenth century has been transplanted by a new liberalism—Landis’ New Deal new liberalism—and he hates it. I want to quote a couple of sentences: “Policy without law is what a broad delegation of power is.” Elsewhere, he writes “a government of statutes without standards may produce pluralism but it is a pluralism of privilege and tight access.” He’s arguing that there are big problems with Congress and parliaments passing laws with vague delegations that just hand over the power to decide high policy to unelected technocrats—regulators—who then consult the various interest groups in society. He claims that that is just a battle of power, with policy and other outcomes turning on who has the greatest lobbying power. He wants to get back to a world in which the legislature—the people that we’ve elected—debates the common interest. And, yes, they might delegate to technocrats, but they should not delegate on the basis of a vague mandate. Those themes are absolutely central to my book."