In asking “What does ‘civility’ mean in the context of our society? That is, what is a civil society?” Mark turns to the familiar words that he wrote in Liberty and Tyranny:
“In the civil society, the individual is recognized and accepted as more than an abstract statistic or faceless member of some group; rather, he is a unique, spiritual being with a soul and a conscience. He is free to discover his own potential and pursue his own legitimate interests, tempered, however, by a moral order that has its foundation in faith and guides his life in all human life through the prudent exercise of judgment. As such, the individual in the civil society strives, albeit imperfectly, to be virtuous – that is, restrained, ethical, and honest. He rejects the relativism that blurs the lines between good and bad, right and wrong, just and unjust, and means and ends.”
Civility.
"In the civil society, the individual has a duty to respect the unalienable rights of others and the values, customs, and traditions tried and tested over time and passed from one generation to the next, that establish society’s cultural identity. He is responsible for attending to his own well-being and that of his family. And he has a duty as a citizen to contribute voluntarily to the welfare of his community through good works.
In the civil society, private property and liberty are inseparable. The individual’s right to live freely and safely and pursue happiness includes the right to acquire and possess property, which represents the fruits of his own intellectual and/or physical labor. As the individual’s time on earth is finite, so, too, is his labor. The illegitimate denial or diminution of his private property enslaves him to another and denies him his liberty.”
Civility.
“In the civil society, a rule of law, which is just, known, and predictable and applied equally albeit imperfectly, provides the governing framework for and restraints on the polity; thereby nurturing the civil society and serving as a check against the arbitrary use and, hence, abuse of power.
For the Conservative, the civil society has as its highest purpose its preservation and improvement.
The Modern Liberal believes in the supremacy of the state, thereby rejecting the principles of the Declaration and the order of the civil society…”
…and you can see this on display the other week with the attacks on the Constitution.
“For the Modern Liberal, the individual’s imperfection and personal pursuits impede the objective of a utopian state. In this, Modern Liberalism promotes what French historian Alexis de Tocqueville describes as a soft tyranny, which becomes increasingly more oppressive, potentially leading to a hard tyranny… As the word “liberal” is, in its classical meaning, the opposite of authoritarian, it’s more accurate, therefore, to characterize the Modern Liberal as a Statist.”
~ Mark Levin 01/13/11
Source: The Mark Levin Show, Liberty and Tyranny
