Gabfest Reads | Why Liberalism Needs to Reclaim the Center

The United States stands at a pivotal moment in its 250-year history, facing an existential threat not from external enemies, but from within—specifically, the erosion of liberalism’s core principles. In this episode of GabFest Reads, historian Adrian Wildridge argues that liberalism is not defined by government size or ideology, but by its foundational commitment to individualism, tolerance of disagreement, and institutional constraints on power. He warns that both the far right and far left are now embracing illiberalism—whether through Trump’s concentration of executive power or progressive movements that silence dissent through cancellation and identity-based orthodoxy. Drawing on Montesquieu, Tocqueville, and the post-WWII liberal revival, Wildridge shows that liberalism has historically self-corrected when pushed to the brink, as it did after the 1930s. Yet today, the spirit of liberalism—its civility, self-restraint, and willingness to disagree agreeably—is vanishing. The solution, he insists, is not to retreat into the status quo, but to embrace a 'revolutionary center'—a dynamic, reinvigorated liberalism that reclaims its moral and intellectual authority through education, local experimentation, and a renewed commitment to the hard, boring work of self-reflection and civic responsibility.