Noted scholar Thomas Spragens seeks to uncover the animating purposes, changes, problems, and prospects of liberalism as it is understood in today's political discourse. For if liberalism is to regain its rightful standing, he argues, it needs to recover its populist heart - to recommit itself to the ideal of government of, by, and for the people envisioned by Lincoln.<BR>Blending political theory with astute analysis of the contemporary scene, Spragens steps back from the "high liberalism" of John Rawls, Ronald Dworkin, and others, arguing instead that the success of liberalism hinges upon its recognition of the limits of social justice and its rededication to the core values of popular self-rule and universal self-realization - especially the capacity of ordinary citizens for personal development through education, occupation, and the practice of politics itself.<BR>Getting the Left Right compellingly argues that if twenty-first century liberalism defines its main mission as the egalitarian reallocation of social resources, it will doom itself to political futility and defeat. But if it instead champions the achievement of a society in which all democratic citizens can govern themselves and lead fulfilling lives, it can write a bright new chapter in its illustrious career.