In the 20th century, you had basically three big stories. You had the fascist story, which said that history is a competition, a conflict between nations or races. Ultimately, the strongest nation or the strongest race will defeat all the others and conquer the world. Then you had the Communist story, which says, yes, but it’s not between races or nations, it’s between classes. There is an inevitable conflict between different classes that will be violent and end with the victory of the working class, which will establish the dictatorship of the proletariat. Then liberalism came and said, no, history does not have to be about conflict at all. It can be about cooperation, because all humans, no matter to which race or nation or class they belong, they are essentially the same. And if we recognize these shared characteristics and interests, in many cases, it just makes more sense to cooperate than to compete and to fight. And by cooperating, we can build a world which will be better for everybody. This was the basic liberal story. And as of 2026, we can look back and say it’s failing. It hasn’t failed completely, but according to many measures, we are still living in probably the best time in history. It’s collapsing, but it’s this kind of amazing house in which all of humanity is living and the systems are still running, like the water, the sewage. Nobody takes care of them anymore, but they were built in such a robust way that even though we don’t maintain them, they still function. But within a year, five years, 10 years, if you live in a house and nobody maintains it, eventually it collapses, and then it’s too late.
