THERE HAS been much discussion of late about the possibility that we are entering a liberal-democratic moment—perhaps the final moment—in world history. If indeed we are, it is all the more urgent for us to shore up the virtues and guard against the vices that characterize liberal democracy. In such circumstances a book like this is particularly apposite, for it seriously considers the principles, problems, and prospects of the world’s oldest, most stable, and still most exemplary liberal democracy: our own.