Reason
· collected 2026-09-11 · by Jonathan H. Adler
The author of this opinion piece critiques James Patterson's and Thomas Howes' new book "Why Postliberalism Failed", arguing that the postliberal critique of American conservatism is not new and has failed before in various countries. The book, according to the author, effectively exposes the postliberal project as a form of authoritarianism masquerading as Catholicism. The key numbers mentioned are none, but the author notes that multiple postliberal regimes in the 20th century ended in failure. The article takes an analytical angle, summarizing and agreeing with the authors' points rather than presenting new information or dissenting views.
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Story summary
Jonathan H. Adler, a contributor to Reason Magazine, recently wrote about the failure of postliberalism in the US conservative movement. He noted that the ideas behind postliberalism have been tried before in other countries like Brazil and Portugal, with disastrous results. According to Adler, these ideas were first deployed in the US by law professors and intellectuals who sought to import a form of European conservatism that emphasized traditional morality and limited government power. However, this movement was met with resistance from those committed to individual liberty and constitutional order. The postliberal critique, which argues against the fusionist consensus of American conservatism, has been criticized for being unoriginal and unlikely to succeed. Adler's own contribution to a symposium on the topic, "The Pre-History of Postliberalism," highlights the history of these ideas and their lack of impact in the past.
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Today Civitas Outlook published a mini-symposium responding to the new book, Why Postliberalism Failed by James Patterson and Thomas Howes.
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Postliberalism → publish → Patterson
Contributors include Richard Reinsch, David Schaefer. and yours truly.
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Contributors → include → Reinsch
My own contribution to the symposium, "The Pre-History of Postliberalism," explains how the postliberal critique of the American political tradition and American conservatism is not new, nor are the theoretical claims upon which it relies.
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it → explain → which
As Patterson and Howes point out, the underlying ideas have been deployed before--and to quite ill effect--in other countries.
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ideas → underlie → countries
As I add, these ideas have had adherents on the American right before, and they should be no more convincing today than they were then.
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they → add → right
The existing order is always threatened by chaos and decay.
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order → exist → chaos
So it is understandable why some may find the postliberal critique engaging, and perhaps even refreshingly transgressive.
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critique → find → ?
Yet aside from the political moment in which it is put forth, there is little in this critique of classical liberalism, the fusionist consensus, or the American project which is particularly new.
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which → put → liberalism
Whether recognized by its adherents or not, the postliberal indictment rehashes arguments and propositions made many times before and proposes a model of governance that has never delivered the moral state its proponents claim it seeks.
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it → recognize → state
This ground is well-trod, but not to good effect.
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ground → tread → effect
In Why Postliberalism Failed, James M. Patterson and Thomas D. Howes usefully dissect and expose the postliberal project, particularly as it has manifested itself within the Catholic political tradition, including Catholic integralism.
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it → fail → integralism
The result is an ideology less concerned with the preservation of traditional religious communities than with harnessing "a powerful, centralized government imposing from the top down a theologically-informed vision of the public good on all national subjects regardless of their faith."
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result → harness → faith
It is, Patterson and Howes note, "authoritarianism dressed up in Catholic vestments."
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Patterson → note → vestments
Perhaps most valuably, they show how the ideas embraced by postliberal thinkers are not new, have been tried before, and have ended in failure.
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ideas → show → failure
There were multiple, Catholic-oriented postliberal regimes in the twentieth century, and all were nasty, brutish, and short.
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all → be → century
None yielded a sustainable or workable—let alone desirable—polity.
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None → yield → polity
Whether in Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Austria, Slovakia, or Vichy France, Catholic-aligned postliberal regimes all ended in failure, often leaving oppression, misery, and death in their wakes.
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regimes → align → wakes
Much of the postliberal indictment of American conservatism—if not the tactical agenda—echoes arguments debated within the conservative movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely (but not exclusively) at the Philadelphia Society and in the pages of National Review.
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America is fortunate that advocates of postliberalism failed to find a following here.
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advocates → fail → following
While some sought to import a reactionary European conservatism to these shores, they failed to dislodge the fusionist consensus that has defined the American conservative movement since World War II—a consensus committed to individual liberty and traditional morality within a constitutional order that limits and decentralizes government power.
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that → seek → power
My essay concludes:
As Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone notes in his foreword to Why Postliberalism Fails, "A fantasized idealism of the past that would reassert such ideas is not a sign of originality, but of historical amnesia."
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that → conclude → amnesia
In that regard, contemporary postliberalism is perhaps a fitting ideology for the age—but that hardly makes its agenda a good one, let alone an American one.
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agenda → make → age
All three contributions may be found here.
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