It is a main thrust of philosophical Liberalism (and of ancient Stoicism) that human beings have a duty to rise above not only animal but parochial and sectarian passions. Any attempt to justify revenge must therefore represent a step back toward the jungle from which we escaped all too recently.
Part I Some years ago, at a weekend meeting of The Rockford Institute’s executives, Richard Neuhaus chattered endlessly about what he called “Public Philosophy” and recommended that the Institute draw up a public philosophy of its own. He had borrowed the phrase from Walter Lippmann, a columnist who had spent a long career trivializing important questions. After the meeting, John Howard asked me if I would have a crack at drawing up the TRI Public Philosophy. This is exactly the sort of thing I hate, but I accepted the task, albeit grudgingly, and explained to John that the most successful...
