Lo and behold! I opened DN today, and what do I find in the editorial?
"Utmanade idéer.
Liberalism: En historia om hopp och illusionslöshet"
By Johannes Åman
After the humiliation and gradual degredation suffered by this newspaper that was founded in 1864, Johannes Åman comes to the newpaper's rescue. So, what is so interesting about the period in which DN was founded? Well, I've added a pic of Eugène Delacroix's "Liberty leading the way" not only because it appears next to the editorial in DN but also because it is such a wonderful picture that captures the birth of something entirely new - a nation. What we see there is basically a militia/civic guard (a prelude to a conscription army, the tool of choice for the modern nation) assaulting the professionals who only serve a certain special interest group in the society.
An interesting story unfolds; not one but two previous DN chief editors have a part in writing a Swedish version of the history of liberalism. The first one was Herbert Tingsten (chief editor 1946 - 1959), who also was a professor of political science. The second one is Svante Oscar Elis Nycander (chief editor 1979 - 1994). Both figures turn out to be interesting, and rather high caliber (just compare to the current situation of DN's staffing). Herbert Tingsten was an influential figure in Swedish public debate, warning about the threat that the trendy movements of the time (1930's), nationalsocialism and communism, caused Sweden. Nycander, who has some interesting titles (check out, for example, "Kriget mot fackföreningarna. En studie av den amerikanska modellen" (1998)), finally realized Tingsten's plan of putting a history of liberalism in between covers. The end result is called "Liberalismen's idéhistoria: Frihet och modernitet".
I have never read this book, but according to Åman, Nycander writes the following in the preface about why Tingsten never got the project on the move: "vem vill skriva snusförnuftets idéhistoria?". Indeed, who would be interested in writing the story of common sense? Its boring. There is nothing of the following in it: Versus! Socialism! Capitalism! Struggle! War! Tooth and nail! Killer app! Its more like: Individual is beautiful. Individual has rights. Individual is free to flourish. Individual is a citizen (not a subject to a despot). Lets build something that makes all of us free in the real meaning of the word. Et cetera.
Åman continues to state that a lot of what the liberals fought for are now a banal parts of a modern European democracy. Human rights, right to vote for everyone, freedom of speech, etc. It is also the basic concept underlying how European countries are organized in terms of economy. Note that this is not to be confused to what is called Neo-Liberalism.
Its quite true that liberalism itself has passed its highpoint over 100 years ago. The problem is, however, that we tend to forget this uninteresting common sense. Liberalism is centred on the individual, and the innate worth and value of the individual. Cynics always rush to ridicule liberalism's childish faith in the human being. However, recognising the ravages of ego and the competitive instinct, most countries based on liberal ideas have assumed methods of curbing the worst problems, implementing law and regulation when necessary. As common sense would suggest.
In any case, Åman's editorial was very interesting, and also enlightening to me personally. I had litlle idea of the newspaper's glorious past. So, what shall the future bring? A generation of new talent to raise DN into a new golden age, or a gradual downhill slope?
In the meanwhile, the difference between man and beast is not the possession of intelligence, but the will to seek it and improve. A childish thought, of lasting hope, of reason, of something decent, a fool's idea? A definitive yes to this but we dont have much more than that and our common sense now, do we?
