Death of the Liberal Class

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Chris Hedges makes a forceful case that liberal institutions have failed Americans by ceding power to self-serving and elitist corporations

“Uncompromising. . . . Hedges indicts the press, the Church, the arts, labor unions, universities, and the Democratic Party for failing to protect the middle and lower classes.” —The New Yorker

For decades, the liberal class defended against the worst excesses of power. But the pillars of the American liberal class—the press, universities, the labor movement, the Democratic Party, and religious institutions—have collapsed. In their absence, the working and middle classes no longer have a champion.

In this devastating critique, Chris Hedges charges American liberal establishments with surrendering their core beliefs and no longer providing an institutional check against unfettered capitalism, the national security state, corporate influence, and staggering income inequalities. The death of the liberal class, Hedges argues, has created a profound vacuum at the heart of American political life. And now, speculators, war profiteers, and demagogues are filling the void.