More secular liberals see it as a done deal.
Government is the sum total of rights transferred-and exists to protect the rights retained.
Modern managerialism in government ignores the romance of the former myth but builds on the latter. A myth may grow in the telling. But that does not make it true - as the cruel incompetence of Serps reform has shown. A private sector business which behaved in this way would end up in the courts, sued for damages and forced into bankruptcy. It is a dubious feat of political anorakia to remember that Norman Fowler was secretary of state for social services in 1986 - the year of the Serps policy change.