In 2018, when I first began engaging in debates over what is today called “postliberalism,” more than a few of my fellow academics told me not to waste my time. In their view, it was an especially niche debate among a few mostly obscure and highly placed academic eccentrics.
But we should all care because postliberalism is now on the presidential ballot, and many of the same people I spoke to are scrambling to understand why and how.
James M. Patterson is associate professor of politics at Ave Maria University, research fellow at the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy, president of the Ciceronian Society, and contributing editor and podcast host at Law & Liberty. He is the author of Religion in the Public Square: Sheen, King, Falwell, and is currently working with his co-author Thomas Howes on a book about postliberalism coming out in early 2025.
