“A Biology of Dictatorships" : liberalism and modern realism in Sinclair Lewis’s 'It Can’t Happen Here'

• Main Author: Yerkes, Andrew Corey.
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::English
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/83671; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/7140
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

“America” is to New World liberalism as the doctrine of the divine right of kings is to medieval monarchy. Open competition, group pluralism, voluntarism, private enterprise, personal rights, community by contract and consent, equality under the law, mobility, free opportunity, individualism— all the tenets of modern liberal society find their apotheosis in the symbol of America. The process by which the United States usurped America for itself, symbolically, is also the process by which liberalism established its political and economic dominance.