From the Summit of the Moral High Ground

There is an old biblical question which has occupied my thoughts for some time. How many good people does it take to save a society? The question appears most famously in the story of Abraham and Sodom. Abraham stands before God and questions the justice of destroying an entire city. What if there are fifty righteous people within it? Would it really be right to destroy the righteous along with the wicked? God agrees that He would spare the city for the sake of the fifty. But Abraham continues. What about forty-five? Forty? Thirty? Twenty? Ten? And so Abraham gradually negotiates the number down, each time asking whether the existence of a smaller number of righteous people would be sufficient reason for the city to be spared. It is a remarkable conversation. It suggests that the moral character of a society cannot simply be separated from the actions of the individuals within it. The existence of goodness matters. The existence of people who are prepared to s...

Every journey must eventually return to its beginning. This series began with a simple proposition. Every power creates opportunities for abuse. That principle has guided every article that followed. We have examined the growth of government. The decline of the household. The marketisation of care. The changing relationship between citizens and the state. The quiet effects of inflation. The immense authority exercised by the justice system. And the gradual transfer of society's expectations towards government itself. The purpose has never been to argue that government is evil. It is not. Nor has the purpose been to suggest that government is unnecessary. It clearly is. Civilisation requires laws. It requires courts. It requires police. It requires national defence. It requires public institutions capable of performing tasks that individuals cannot accomplish alone. The question has never been whether government should exist. The question has always been where its limits should lie....

Every civilisation places its ultimate trust somewhere. Throughout history, many societies looked first to family. Others looked to tribe. Many looked to religion. In the Western world, Christianity taught that ultimate authority belonged to God. Kings possessed authority. Governments possessed authority. Judges possessed authority. Parents possessed authority. Yet every earthly authority remained limited. Each answered to something higher. This principle shaped the civilisation that emerged over many centuries. It reminded rulers that they were not supreme. It reminded citizens that obedience was not unlimited. It reminded society that no human institution should ever become absolute. Whether one accepts the religious belief itself is, in many respects, beside the point. The political consequence was profound. Government was never expected to become everything. Over time, however, something remarkable has happened. As many traditional institutions have weakened, government has steadil...