Now, there is no such thing as ‘man’ in this world. In my life I have seen Frenchmen, Italians, Russians, and so on. I even know, thanks to Montesquieu, that one can be Persian. But as for man, I declare I’ve never encountered him.

―Joseph de Maistre, Considerations on France

Rights and liberty are ideas that only emerge from western peoples. They are not and cannot be universal, even within the west. Liberty can only exist in a high-trust society that is already well ordered with shared values. Rights are derived from sovereign power to facilitate the uplifting and prosperity of the people. When a society is disordered and incoherent, the sovereign has a duty to ruthlessly crush subversive and corrosive elements that dissolve society.

Now, there is no such thing as ‘man’ in this world. In my life I have seen Frenchmen, Italians, Russians, and so on. I even know, thanks to Montesquieu, that one can be Persian. But as for man, I declare I’ve never encountered him.

―Joseph de Maistre, Considerations on France

Rights and liberty are ideas that only emerge from western peoples. They are not and cannot be universal, even within the west. Liberty can only exist in a high-trust society that is already well ordered with shared values. Rights are derived from sovereign power to facilitate the uplifting and prosperity of the people. When a society is disordered and incoherent, the sovereign has a duty to ruthlessly crush subversive and corrosive elements that dissolve society.

Rights and liberty are ideas that only emerge from western peoples. Liberty can only exist in a high-trust society that is already well ordered with shared values. Rights are derived from sovereign power to facilitate the uplifting and prosperity of the people. When a society is disordered and incoherent, the sovereign has a duty to ruthlessly crush subversive and corrosive elements that dissolve society.