What is it about our prosperous, free-market democracies — by far the freest and most comfortable in human history — that makes them dissatisfying to so many, primarily on the left but also to some extent on the right, too?

Brian Anderson, the editor of the Manhattan Institute’s flagship magazine, City Journal looks at that question from several different angles in his new book of political theory, Democratic Capitalism and its Discontents, just out from ISI.

He details liberals’ obsession with big government. He contends that programs championed by liberals have resulted in atrophied sense of personal responsibility, increased school dropout rates, rampant illegitimacy and crime.

He joins me tonight on “A Conversation with Andrea and …” on the webstream at Blog Talk Radio at 9 p.m. EST.

Anderson also is the author of Raymond Aron: the Recovery of the Political, the controversial 2005 book South Park Conservatives: the Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias.

The Chat Room will be open for your questions and comments. To listen, click the button.

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