In this article, I intend to disagree rather pointedly with the thesis Michael Sandel advances in Democracy’s Discontent.

My disagreement, however, should not obscure the fact that there is much of value in this insightful and thought-provoking book. I believe, for example, that Democracy’s Discontent provides both a devastating critique of what I will be referring to as Rawlsian liberalism and an extremely valuable history of the political thought of America’s intellectual elites from the Founding to the present. Although the brevity of the symposium format makes it impossible for me to explore the praiseworthy aspects of this work, they should not go unremarked.