A wonderful summary of Hazony’s work who I admire as one of the great thinkers of modern times in his substantive critique of liberalism. You point to some tensions and rightly so. I think there are others. But the tensions don’t negate the fruitfulness of his thought.
A view which I find quite convincing that Islam in its essence is an imperialist universalist political project that is baked into a religion? Christianity in its essence is not a political project, and secularism is easier to defend from within a Christian framework.
Having read more of his work where do you think he would land on this issue ?
What’s your personal view and how would you view the separation of the spiritual and political from within a Jewish framework?
Nice piece! Funnily enough, I watched the podcast he did with Winston Marshall a few hours ago and found his arguments intriguing and often convincing.
I found your write up enormously interesting but it seems the man himself runs into a lot of contradictions when questioned by someone of a liberal bent (which I think he attempts to hand wave when questioned by Ezra Klein)
It felt like he was very inexperienced with interview style communication. He had a lot of thoughts but was having trouble weaving them into a coherent narrative on the fly.
I feel like he draws a lot of ideas, whether from or in parallel to, Arendt. Whereas Arendt is a secular thinker that looks to the Greek polis for inspiration, Hazony looks to scripture. But both began with the family as the building block for governance.
I think Hazony should have pushed back more on Klein. 2 perspectives, 1 as a Californian it's very unclear whether we have a unified state identity or as much of one as other older states do.
Increasingly our politics in California is based on deep racial fissions. You have a tribe of people like Klein, White liberals who make up approximately 17%-18% of the population (but almost 30% of the voters) (but only 10% of the children being born within the state). These are the ones who control the gearwork of the state. Even to the extent they dont control all of the political offices they make most of the donations to politicians and are most of the civil servants. You then have Latino democrats in the Central Valley and the Inland Empire who tend to be more moderate. Then there are Latinos in East LA who tend to be more progressive. Then you have various Asian communities who tend to vote as blocs with the biggest being Indian, Filipino and Chinese. Finally among the states Republicans there is a shrinking more socially moderate bloc in suburbs like San Diego and Orange counties. Then there is a more socially conservative bloc in the Central Valley and the Northern part of the state.
So Californian politics is far from being unified and shows that a multiethnic democracy where government does not promote a unified Anglo-American culture doesn't work. The reality is that this first tribe of White progressives that Klein belongs to lives very well in California and shapes it in their image. The remaining sectors of the population are finding a state that is unaffordable and leaving. The only reason these sectors grow despite the attempted gentrification is that they have a far higher fertility rate and immigration. But California losing 4 seats at the next census despite the political influence of people who agree with Kleins abundance agenda in the state legislature doesn't exactly leave a high mark of confidence.
2nd, New Hampshire and the Northeastern states might not be best to point to because while these state may have the highest percentage of Anglo-Americans they also had a whole bunch of traitors like Randolph Bourne and John Dewey who supported a departure from Anglo-American cultural dominance. That and the theological liberalization of the mainline churches so common in the region. Klein wants us to compare Californias culture as a "society of ideas" (really a society where people like Ezra Klein exploit new immigrants) to New Hampshire as opposed to say the unicultural conservatism of North Carolina or Idaho which unlike California are growing as a percentage of the population speaks for itself.
It's probably fair to say that Hazony realized that his audience was extremely hard to convince. That in an hour and a half he wasn't going to get anyone on board with him. So it was far more of a here's what we think sort of thing. Less of an attempt to convince folks who listen to a fundamentally hostile media outlet.
“Hazony proposes an unapologetically normative politics rooted in scripture, in covenant, and in the unchosen obligations that form the backbone of real human community.”
Precisely this template informs Hamas and fellow Islamic jihadists.
Even stranger is both sides genuflect to the same Abrahamic god.
But what I’ve never quite understood is why the Arabs like the Christians [after the monotheistic Assyrians] went imperialist but never the Jews.
I believe that the Soviets killed somewhere between 1-2 million ethnic Germans, a majority of them POWs, but many who were merely civilians living outside of Germany. They also raped every German woman they came across. Hundreds of thousands of Germans died from Allied bombing of cities (and the Allies were deliberately trying to kill civilians, just as the US did in fire bombing Tokyo and dropping nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki). Mass killing of Germans in reprisal would have itself been a kind of vindication of the might makes right worldview of the Nazis and Imperial Japan, and it isn’t surprising that the Soviet/Russian empire did engage in that kind of activity.
“Hazony proposes an unapologetically normative politics rooted in scripture”
OK - stop right there. I have read a lot of scripture and that just sounds miserable.
A wonderful summary of Hazony’s work who I admire as one of the great thinkers of modern times in his substantive critique of liberalism. You point to some tensions and rightly so. I think there are others. But the tensions don’t negate the fruitfulness of his thought.
Great article as always .
A view which I find quite convincing that Islam in its essence is an imperialist universalist political project that is baked into a religion? Christianity in its essence is not a political project, and secularism is easier to defend from within a Christian framework.
Having read more of his work where do you think he would land on this issue ?
What’s your personal view and how would you view the separation of the spiritual and political from within a Jewish framework?
Nice piece! Funnily enough, I watched the podcast he did with Winston Marshall a few hours ago and found his arguments intriguing and often convincing.
No separation of spiritual and political in Judaism. Its one thing for one nation among nations!
I found your write up enormously interesting but it seems the man himself runs into a lot of contradictions when questioned by someone of a liberal bent (which I think he attempts to hand wave when questioned by Ezra Klein)
Maybe I am seeing something incorrectly? Would love your thoughts on his interview here - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-yoram-hazony.html
Ye. Thought Klein asked good questions and Hazony's answers were confused. Sad!
It felt like he was very inexperienced with interview style communication. He had a lot of thoughts but was having trouble weaving them into a coherent narrative on the fly.
I feel like he draws a lot of ideas, whether from or in parallel to, Arendt. Whereas Arendt is a secular thinker that looks to the Greek polis for inspiration, Hazony looks to scripture. But both began with the family as the building block for governance.
I think Hazony should have pushed back more on Klein. 2 perspectives, 1 as a Californian it's very unclear whether we have a unified state identity or as much of one as other older states do.
Increasingly our politics in California is based on deep racial fissions. You have a tribe of people like Klein, White liberals who make up approximately 17%-18% of the population (but almost 30% of the voters) (but only 10% of the children being born within the state). These are the ones who control the gearwork of the state. Even to the extent they dont control all of the political offices they make most of the donations to politicians and are most of the civil servants. You then have Latino democrats in the Central Valley and the Inland Empire who tend to be more moderate. Then there are Latinos in East LA who tend to be more progressive. Then you have various Asian communities who tend to vote as blocs with the biggest being Indian, Filipino and Chinese. Finally among the states Republicans there is a shrinking more socially moderate bloc in suburbs like San Diego and Orange counties. Then there is a more socially conservative bloc in the Central Valley and the Northern part of the state.
So Californian politics is far from being unified and shows that a multiethnic democracy where government does not promote a unified Anglo-American culture doesn't work. The reality is that this first tribe of White progressives that Klein belongs to lives very well in California and shapes it in their image. The remaining sectors of the population are finding a state that is unaffordable and leaving. The only reason these sectors grow despite the attempted gentrification is that they have a far higher fertility rate and immigration. But California losing 4 seats at the next census despite the political influence of people who agree with Kleins abundance agenda in the state legislature doesn't exactly leave a high mark of confidence.
2nd, New Hampshire and the Northeastern states might not be best to point to because while these state may have the highest percentage of Anglo-Americans they also had a whole bunch of traitors like Randolph Bourne and John Dewey who supported a departure from Anglo-American cultural dominance. That and the theological liberalization of the mainline churches so common in the region. Klein wants us to compare Californias culture as a "society of ideas" (really a society where people like Ezra Klein exploit new immigrants) to New Hampshire as opposed to say the unicultural conservatism of North Carolina or Idaho which unlike California are growing as a percentage of the population speaks for itself.
It's probably fair to say that Hazony realized that his audience was extremely hard to convince. That in an hour and a half he wasn't going to get anyone on board with him. So it was far more of a here's what we think sort of thing. Less of an attempt to convince folks who listen to a fundamentally hostile media outlet.
Supreme dark irony here.
“Hazony proposes an unapologetically normative politics rooted in scripture, in covenant, and in the unchosen obligations that form the backbone of real human community.”
Precisely this template informs Hamas and fellow Islamic jihadists.
Even stranger is both sides genuflect to the same Abrahamic god.
But what I’ve never quite understood is why the Arabs like the Christians [after the monotheistic Assyrians] went imperialist but never the Jews.
Not all religions and cultures are created equal. Normative means i think theyre wrong!
Tragedy is the relig lunatics on both sides. But esp Islamic.
Alas the Palest. jihad since 1948 by leadership [not the people, who never get a say] has been disastrous for them. One holy war after another.
And Pal. Authority, Abbas etc remain rabid antisemites.
But this hostility has fed Right wing Israel nationalists, whole W Bank invasion.
As you know Jews / Muslims lived and worked together for millennia... until 1948!
You must be confusing me with some other guy!
I believe that the Soviets killed somewhere between 1-2 million ethnic Germans, a majority of them POWs, but many who were merely civilians living outside of Germany. They also raped every German woman they came across. Hundreds of thousands of Germans died from Allied bombing of cities (and the Allies were deliberately trying to kill civilians, just as the US did in fire bombing Tokyo and dropping nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki). Mass killing of Germans in reprisal would have itself been a kind of vindication of the might makes right worldview of the Nazis and Imperial Japan, and it isn’t surprising that the Soviet/Russian empire did engage in that kind of activity.
I have a few posts on the easten front and soviet horror coming out
Bruce Springsteen would hate this dork