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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 20, 2026

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Like, the orientation of the state should explicitly privilege people of a particular ethnicity and religion. The very premise of Zionism seems in contradiction with how I understand liberal principles.

Does nationalism thus contradict liberal principles, as many progressives claim? After all, nations privilege citizens. I am just as American as any native-born, in terms of believing the creed! Why should someone else be favored above me, especially if it means I lose the right to freedom from want, fear, etc. ?

If so, there's nothing to do but bite the bullet and say that liberalism was always in a marriage of compromise with nationalism and other particularist ideologies for the vast majority of its history and that sort of liberalism is...fine, actually. It worked for everyone until recently. So what?

Does nationalism thus contradict liberal principles, as many progressives claim?

Perhaps it does, but I would argue that this more a knock against progressivism than it is against nationalism.

The rush from judgment can easily be read as a reductio-ad-absurdum progressive moralizing. If Muhammed dreams of killing Jews who are we to deny him the opportunity to follow his dreams and live his best life?