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Essays

The Reactionary Case for Democracy

Towards a Nietzschean Liberalism

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Richard Hanania
Oct 04, 2023

People often ask me how I reconcile my more Nietzschean views and classical liberalism, which means support for not only markets, but even democracy and the oft mocked “rules based international order.” Many thinkers who believe in things like the importance of IQ and the dominant impact of heredity tend to be more partial towards monarchy or some other kind of dictatorial system. I’m thinking here of BAP, Yarvin, and their admirers among the reactionary right.

Since we’re reconciling Nietzsche and Liberalism here, we can call my philosophy Nietzschean Liberalism. The Nietzschean part consists of the following beliefs.

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