I prefer the nomer classical liberal, it keeps one disassociated from "conservatives" like Buchanan. How the Republican party can stand to keep a xenophobic, protectionist, populist rabble rouser like him on board I dont know. But there are worse in that party these days...
Rawls is an astute philosopher, though he has a tendency to be wishy washy on his foundations. He likes to abuse Kant by taking him out of context, as he did widely in Theory of Justice. Which, by the way is a complete mess, Im sure you read it. You are right, his popular reputation came from that book, and I dont know why it was so widely acclaimed. It was meant as a justification of the welfare state, but in practical application would become a justification for tyranny. I think part of its popularity was the fact it was the first systematic politico-ethico work to breach the Analytic tradition which had dominated for decades. His polemics against Utilitarianism are well known, and well-grounded. He argued for instance that teleologic ethical theories like Utilitarianism could never stand because they fail to respect the person, they use them as mere means.
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