If Neoclassical and Marxist economic ideologies are predicated on theories of value, then can we similarly inspect the theories of value that underpin the State? Liberal Democracies are supposed to be predicated on Liberty, Consent of the Governed, and Equality before the Law. But on the face of it, we can see an absolute failure of the foundation. So can we deconstruct the liberal ideology and use Liberty, Consent, and Equality as the quanta for measuring the accumulation of political power? Or would it be more apt to view The State not in terms of accumulation, and more broadly in terms of strength and rigidity?
Perhaps, liberalism, although presented as if it were universal, was never intended to be universal? Liberty, consent and equality for me, but not for you?
The reality is liberalism describes the political reality of the wealthy quite well.
Whether your trace the origins of liberalism to its early 19th century France and Benjamin Constant or late 17th century England and John Locke, the origins of capitalism preceded and informed liberalism. At this point, I view the liberal ideology as little more than capitalist propaganda, a clutch of normative myths (what Jason Stanley calls “flawed ideology”) we have been conditioned to embrace even while they always seem to recede from us. This does not mean I do not believe in the ideals liberalism espouses, I just don’t believe liberalism believes in the ideals liberalism espouses.