When modern liberals don't tell alpha stories, a gap arises between liberals and conservatives on storytelling. In Chapter 2, I noted that this gap may have electoral consequences, and that two broad questions therefore seemed to me worth asking. These are worth restating now:

1. 1. While conservatives tell stories (in the sense of narratives), why don't liberals like Obama do the same? That is, what holds them back?

2. 2. Furthermore, if liberals don't tell stories (again in the sense of narratives), what do they do instead? That is, how do they inspire voters to support liberal projects?

What we have seen so far suggests a plausible answer to the first question. Broadly speaking, liberals are “disenchanted.” Therefore they tend to adopt scientific findings rather than to use stories to understand the world. As a result, they rarely tell stories to describe and shape public life. This, then, is the storytelling gap.

But what of the second question? If liberals don't tell the kind of stories that conservatives promote, what do they do politically – and, in the process, contribute to public life? That is, if liberals refrain from living publicly within stories, how do they live publicly without stories? In other words, where are these people intellectually?

The answer to this second question comes in several parts, as we shall see. It starts, however, from a situation in which – instead of telling large stories and using government to achieve what those stories recommend – most liberals aim to “solve problems.” (We should note, of course, that they do not mean “problems” in the intractable sense but “puzzles” that can be solved.)

For example, where is there a political, social, or economic problem? If it is at point X, how can we deal with it? If it is at point Y, what needs to be done? Furthermore, if one thing doesn't work, why not try another? As Franklin Roosevelt said, “The country needs … and demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”