Sublime

THE MOST INTELLIGENT of the Nazis, the legal theorist Carl Schmitt, explained in clear language the essence of fascist governance. The way to destroy all rules, he explained, was to focus on the idea of the exception. A Nazi leader outmaneuvers his opponents by manufacturing a general conviction that the present moment is exceptional, and then tran

The weakness of democracy is that the assumption that all men are equal and capable of equal contribution to the common good is flawed.

For partisans on both sides, new policies enacted are not as important as keeping the pot boiling by galvanizing voter and donor enthusiasm. Indeed, achievements gained can be less helpful than achievements thwarted

La démocratie n’a donc pas encore perdu. Mais elle doit soigner ses pathologies. Tocqueville nous rappelle à juste titre que la liberté n’est jamais donnée ou acquise, mais toujours à construire. Elle passe par un effort d’éducation des citoyens, qui suppose d’investir massivement dans l’enseignement. Elle exige d’assurer l’efficacité de contre-pou

Through play, people cultivate the political skills that the next evolution of democracy will require.

La démocratie, sans l’utile contrepoids d’un monarque, est sans mesure dans l’approbation comme dans improbation, conduit au bavardage parlementaire et à la vilaine catégorie des politiciens professionnels. Et puis, les peuples actuels ne se prêtent pas à la démocratie absolue, et je crois que, dans l’avenir, ils s’y prêteront de moins en moins. La

Anne Applebaum’s Twilight of Democracy is another deeply instructive study of the illiberal drift of so many democracies across the globe.3 However, like so many others, Applebaum’s view proceeds from a default assumption that democracy is a discrete system. But that assumption prevents us from understanding democracy as a constantly evolving cultu

Asking democratic citizens to leave their moral and religious convictions behind when they enter the public realm may seem a way of ensuring toleration and mutual respect. In practice, however, the opposite can be true. Deciding important public questions while pretending to a neutrality that cannot be achieved is a recipe for backlash and resentme