|
Wilson Carey McWilliams
1933-2005
The recovery of politics requires an intellectual change in America. We need to remind Americans that genuine
freedom is civil, not private, liberty, that liberty which enhances our trust and our ability to act. The protection of private rights and our guarantee of justice lies in the
moderation, decency and right opinion of our fellow
citizens. If that sense of fairness and civility does not exist in our fellows, then we lack the foundation for a democratic society and we had
best recognize it, substituting some system more suited to our political decay.
Certainly, it is clear that we will be dependent on one another and that we will need
collective effort to solve our pressing problems. It is no less clear that we will need to rethink the foundations of our common life. The energy issue illustrates both aspects
of our situation. We can deal with the energy crisis only through public action and such action requires sacrifices more than freedom. Indeed, the energy crisis points us
toward the teaching which is the core of the older understanding of politics: the recognition that humanity is, after all, the subject and not the master of nature, and
that learning to be subject and to be ruled by nature is the first prerequisite of learning how to rule in political life.
|
