A scathing and intelligent critique of the politics of liberal compassion-and why liberals' lack of interest in the results of their policies renders them unfit to govern. For decades, conservatives have chafed at being called "heartless" and "uncaring" by liberals who act as though compassion were the height of both personal and political virtue. To date, however, no conservative has ever challenged this idea. Instead, they spend their time trying to prove that they really do care. Now-just like Jonah Goldberg in "Liberal Fascism"-historian William Voegeli turns the tables on this argument, making the case that "compassion" is neither the essence of personal virtue, nor the ultimate purpose of government. Liberals have built a remarkable edifice of government programs that are justified by appeals to compassion. Yet as Voegeli convincingly shows, they are utterly indifferent as to whether these programs succeed. Instead, when the problems they are created to solve fail to disappear, they propose to fix underperforming programs with more money, or more programs. Meanwhile, conservatives who challenge their effectiveness on practical grounds are met with charges of being "heartless right wingers." Voegeli walks the reader through various programs that have become battlefields between Conservatives fighting for more efficiency, and Liberals fighting for more of the same. Along the way, he explains the philosophical underpinnings of the Liberal project that created and reinforce this misapplied ideal of compassion, and why, without a major change, Liberals must be considered unfit to govern.
