Beyond Left and Right: Breaking the Political Stalemate.

A successful application of democracy relies on a delicate synthesis of freedom and order. Too much freedom inevitably leads to chaos; too much order to Rumania. The intellectual community is now overwhelmed by the debate on how to reconcile these differences, Lawrence Chickering contends. This polarization, he adds, has led to (or is a result of) less a debate than a battle of sides whose arguments tend to focus on merely opposing. Facts and a coherent rationale are absent. It depends, of course, on whom you talk to. Conservatives would argue that their positions favor an equilibrium: curtailing freedoms only so far as to preserve civility; stressing order without curtailing our natural liberties. Liberals would defend the deconstruction of certain restraints on behavior and the erection of new ones as justified by the final end of equality for all. Beyond Left and Right, though a bit dry, is both thought-provoking and correct in its premise. But contrary to Chickering's suppositions, there's much to indicate that intellectual currents are moving to the right. Responsible liberals are striving to reclaim the center. But the momentum of the Left in the implementation of public policy by sheer political force, despite its proven failures, continues unabated. Society must eventually clean up the wreckage.