Downstream: Is Liberalism Finally Waking Up to the Crises it has Caused? w/ Adrian Wooldridge

In this incisive episode of Novara Media's Downstream, host engages with Adrian Wooldridge, former senior editor at The Economist and author of 'Centrists of the World Unite: The Lost Genius of Liberalism,' to confront the deepening crisis of modern liberalism. Wooldridge argues that liberalism, despite its foundational ideals of individualism, tolerance, and institutionalized diversity, has devolved into a self-congratulatory, ideologically rigid orthodoxy—what he terms 'double liberalism'—that merges economic neoliberalism with social permissiveness. This fusion, epitomized by the 'Bobo' (bourgeois bohemian) worldview, has led to catastrophic real-world consequences: the collapse of public infrastructure in cities like San Francisco and Vancouver, the rise of unregulated homelessness and drug epidemics, and the unchecked power of tech monopolies. Wooldridge contends that liberalism’s failure to confront these issues stems from its refusal to acknowledge its own historical sins—slavery, imperialism, and the exploitation of labor—while simultaneously dismissing the very real harms caused by its current policies. He calls for a revival of a more robust, morally grounded liberalism that recognizes the distinction between good and bad choices, values cultural continuity, and actively regulates powerful private actors, especially in tech and finance. The conversation culminates in a provocative challenge: if liberalism is to survive, it must abandon its self-justifying complacency and embrace a politics of responsibility, not just freedom.