# Patrick Deneen Political theorist at the University of Notre Dame and the most prominent intellectual voice of [[Catholic Post-Liberalism]]. Author of *Why Liberalism Failed* (2018), which [[Barack Obama]] put on his reading list — and which [[the New Right]] embraced as a foundational text for replacing liberalism rather than reforming it. ## Role in the New Right Deneen provides the **philosophical framework** for the post-liberal turn: the argument that liberalism (including conservative liberalism, including the free-market fusionism of the old GOP) is not merely failing but was *always destined to fail* because its core commitments — individual autonomy, consent-based governance, market freedom — inevitably dissolve the social bonds that make civilization possible. This is the intellectual ammunition for abandoning the Reagan consensus. ## Key Positions & Writings - **"Why Liberalism Failed" (2018):** Argues that liberalism "failed because it succeeded" — its logic of individual liberation has destroyed community, family, and civic virtue. Not a left or right critique but an *anti-liberal* critique that the New Right adopted wholesale. - **"Regime Change" (2023):** The sequel. Moves from diagnosis to prescription: a new "aristopopulism" where virtuous elites govern on behalf of the common good, displacing the liberal meritocratic elite. Critics note this is NRx's CEO-king in Catholic vestments. - **Common good politics:** The state should actively promote virtue, not merely protect individual rights. ## Connections - [[JD Vance]] — Vance's Catholic conversion and political evolution were influenced by Deneen's work; Deneen endorsed Vance - [[Peter Thiel]] — Funder of the intellectual milieu Deneen operates in - [[Sohrab Ahmari]] — Fellow post-liberal, co-combatant in the "[[Against David French-ism]]" turn - [[Adrian Vermeule]] — Ally in the integralist/post-liberal project, though Vermeule is harder-line - [[Yoram Hazony]] — NatCon ally; Deneen speaks at NatCon conferences - [[Curtis Yarvin]] — The uncomfortable parallel: Deneen's "aristopopulism" and Yarvin's "CEO-king" reach similar conclusions from different premises ## See Also - [[Catholic Post-Liberalism]] - [[National Conservatism]] - [[Adrian Vermeule]] - [[Sohrab Ahmari]] - [[The New Right Ecosystem]]