In explaining this week why theocracies are doomed to fail, Newsweek?s Jon Meacham tells us:
[O]ne of the key features of modernity is the shift of emphasis from the privileges and power of institutions (a monarch, a clerical establishment, the state itself) to the rights and relative autonomy of the individual. In many ways, the modern virtues are the ones we associate with democracy: a free (or free-ish) flow of ideas, capital and people in an ethos in which men and women are free (or, again, free-ish) to form their own opinions and follow the dictates of their own consciences.
If you believe this, Mr. Meacham, you might want to ask your colleague Jonathan Alter why he believes ? as he tells us later in the same issue ? that President Obama can best address the nation?s health-care ills by ensuring that the state will exercise more power over individuals? choices:
That takes us back to a public option, which would force insurers to redraw their business models and accept lower profits. The House bill will include it, but the Senate’s almost certainly won’t.
?
When it comes time to hammer out the final plan in the House-Senate conference committee, Obama and Rahm Emanuel will likely make the House accept a reduction in the deductibility of employer-based plans and make the Senate accept some kind of public option or co-op with teeth.
That sounds like an emphasis on ?the privileges and power of institutions? ? actually, an institution, ?the state itself? ? rather than the ?rights and relative autonomy of the individual.?
