We are all Hobbesians now. Virtue is presumed to reside in the state. Its reliance on compulsion is seen as fulfilling, not undermining, morality. Our communicators, oddly employed in the private sector, work tirelessly to ensure that state control is maintained, our taxes stay high, the official message is promoted. The people know, and can only know, a tiny fraction of what Leviathan does, and what they know is what these partisans tell them.
Democracy turns out to be rule by publicity.
He calls for a redress in the balance of rights, with civil rights construed more narrowly, property rights more broadly. It is not cynical, he concludes, to have more faith in freedom than in subjugation. If the portents for property and freedom today are not what we would wish, we should be grateful that these two writers have so eloquently drawn attention to the problem.