Category: Politics, Power, and Governance

—“Third, safeguard the principles of the liberal world order. The founding legend of modern government is a walled city protected by powerful rulers, sometimes despotic, other times benevolent, yet always strong enough to protect the people from an external enemy. Enlightenment thinkers reframed this concept, arguing that the purpose of the legitimate state is to provide for the fundamental needs of the people: security, order, economic well-being, and justice. Individuals cannot secure these things on their own. The pandemic has prompted an anachronism, a revival of the walled city in an age when prosperity depends on global trade and movement of people.”—Kissinger

NO. The purpose of the legitimate state is (a) to defend the people against the barbarian hordes, (b) defend the future generations against the fashions of the people. (c) increase the intergenerational human cultural civilizational capital. (d) adapt to crisis, peace, and windfalls. (((Cosmopolitianism))) is just barbarism.