Modern liberalism, and why I am a "race realist"

Classical liberalism emphasized man's ability to better society through reason, but somewhere along the way it became intertwined with strands of Marxist thought, morphing into an ideology with an irrational and excessive focus on equality of outcome. This is the modern liberalism we are all familiar with today. The problem with modern liberalism's obsessive focus on equality of outcome is that it has shifted liberalism away from its roots as a reason-based problem-solving school of thought into an emotionally-charged ideology that is willing to turn a blind eye to inconvenient truths in order to achieve its ends.

For example, it stubbornly asserts, and demands everyone accept on blind faith – against all common sense and evidence - that no meaningful differences in cultural or genetic traits exist between the races. Of course it would be nice if we could just write off modern liberalism as a cult of idealists with no real-world consequences flowing from this leap of faith, but modern liberalism is the secular religion of the Western world, and the consequences are real. Consider: By accepting the faith-based proposition that no meaningful differences in cultural or genetic traits exist between the races, modern society also accepts - by default - the logical conclusion that no differences between the races in academic, social, or economic performance should arise. But differences do arise, they always have, and they stubbornly refuse to go away. So how does modern liberalism explain this contradiction? Quite easily. It invents a bogeyman: racism. "If only we could eliminate racism," the narrative goes, "then all racial differences in outcome would go away."

In this way, modern liberalism provides its adherents with a simplistic and convenient explanation for inequality in the world and a clear objective for eliminating this inequality: rooting out racism. For modern liberals, the pervasiveness of inequality in the world is only taken as evidence of the deep-rooted nature of racism in society, not a reflection of underlying differences between the races. And not surprisingly, the bogeyman is found everywhere. Differences in IQ? Racism. Differences in academic performance? Racism. Differences in average incomes? Racism. Differences in homeownership rates? Racism. Differences in crime rates? Racism. The important point here is that this is the only logical conclusion for explaining different outcomes between races when you accept the proposition that no meaningful differences in cultural or genetic traits exist between the races.

I call myself a race realist. I do so because I believe meaningful differences in cultural or genetic traits exist between the races, and that these account for the bulk of racial differences in outcome. The evidence is just overwhelming. And if the issue were not so politically charged, the answer would be obvious to everyone. But people – Americans in particular - like to take Thomas Jefferson's words "All men are created equal" as a literal statement of fact as opposed to a philosophical statement about man's equal standing under the law. But reality can't be wished away. As the famous saying goes "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." The reality of meaningful differences in cultural or genetic traits between the races doesn't go away just because we refuse to acknowledge it. And we will never eliminate inequitable outcomes as long as we insist that the bogeyman of racism is the cause of this inequality, as opposed to the underlying cause: meaningful differences in cultural or genetic traits between the races. So I call on all truth-seeking, fair-minded Americans, particularly young Americans, to confront the lie of modern liberalism, and become race realists. Not racists. Because race realists do not hate other races; they're just exasperated with the ridiculous, worn-out, blind-of-faith assumptions that form the foundation of modern liberalism.

I look forward to discussing how this relates to Disparate Impact and other issues in future blogs.