| Being a liberal Democrat has come to mean, to too many, the refusal to recognize that "values" are not purely personal matters; that there are values that cause societies to flourish, and those that cause them to falter; that promotion of values is the proper business of our institutions, if only through education and example; that society has a claim on one, whether one likes it or not. In the "Crito", Plato has Socrates argue that, as he lived protected and nurtured by the laws of Athens his whole life, so he must yield even to an unjust decision against him, rather than flee. The case of being unjustly sentenced to death is, in fact, a hard case, and could be argued either way. But today's liberal doesn't at all understand the dilemma, nor the sense of gratitude and loyalty, of patriotism and duty, that one should have towards one's homeland under ordinary circumstances. |
