Look, I Don't Even Agree With Myself

The Absence Of Utopianism In The Constitution, Law, And Traditional Political Culture Has Been ... Important In Limiting Expectations Concerning What Can Be Achieved By Politics. The History Of The Last Two Centuries Confirms What The Framers Of The Constitution Understood: That The Perfect Is The Enemy Of The Good, And The Search For Unalloyed Virtue In Public Life Leads To Unalloyed Terror.

I Conclude That It Is A Fundamental Mistake To Think That Salvation, Justice, Or Virtue Come Through Merely Human Institutions.

Decades, If Not Centuries Are Normally Required For People To Acquire The Necessary Disciplines And Habits. In Britain, The Road [to Democratic Government] Took Seven Centuries To Traverse.

Democracy Not Only Requires Equality But Also An Unshakable Conviction In The Value Of Each Person, Who Is Then Equal. Cross Cultural Experience Teaches Us Not Simply That People Have Different Beliefs, But That People Seek Meaning And Understand Themselves In Some Sense As Members Of A Cosmos Ruled By God.

Society Has Never Barred Women From Bread-winning Roles, But Only From Economic Roles That Are Profitable And Respectable.