This really interesting perspective is from Democracy Digest:

The defining doctrines of liberal democracy are government by consent of the governed, equal justice under the law, and the separation of church and state, notes Joseph Loconte, an associate professor of history at the King’s College in New York City and the author of God, Locke, and Liberalism: The Struggle for Religious Freedom in the West.

These are the political principles that have helped the West to defeat two of its most intractable problems—political tyranny and religious authoritarianism. It is precisely these ideas that are under assault in much of the rest of the world, he writes for the National Interest:

Nevertheless, while many on the political left ignore Locke’s influence, a growing number of conservatives have rejected it as a “dead end” toward radical individualism and social breakdown. Yoram Hazony, the author of The Virtue of Nationalism, argues that “there is nothing in the liberal system that requires you, or even encourages you, to also adopt a commitment to God, the Bible, family, or nation.”

Nonsense. These voices would cut us off from a vital source of moral and political insight, gained from bitter experience, Loconte suggests.

Read the full article here.