Sublime

Similarly, Lasch’s richer conception of obligation means that power implies care for others. Just as property rights are neither absolute nor free from duties, so too political authority requires popular consent and compassion for the most vulnerable. In functioning democracies, power received from the people has to be returned to them by promoting

The right’s obsession with liberty qua free choice is as arbitrary as the left’s pursuit of equality qua sameness is abstract. The right champions freedom and equal opportunity as an expression of its belief in the individual and self-advancement, whereas the left speaks the language of social justice and morality as an expression of its belief in

Most people are broadly communitarian: small-c conservative in their approach to matters of state and small-s socialist on public services, fair play and hard work. They cherish liberty but value authority too.

Plato: the state should make possible the conditions under which everyone can provide for themselves and seek the Good. Aristotle: all communities aim at some good, and the state is the highest kind of community, aiming at the highest of goods. Locke: The state is legitimate if it enforces contracts and acts as the guarantor of private property.

Sur le plan politique, il avait reçu la confirmation que le phénomène démocratique constituait la clé de l’avenir, qui permettrait de libérer la créativité et l’énergie de la société et, dès lors, ne manquerait pas de s’imposer en France et en Europe. Sur le plan intellectuel, il s’engagea dans un travail de compréhension du phénomène démocratique