Reflexões (post-scriptum)

“The study of politics is necessarily part of politics, is committed to the preservation of free politics, but not to any particular form of politics, still less to party doctrine.“

“The moral consensus of a free state is not something mysteriously prior to or above politics: it is the activity (the civilizing activity) of politics itself.“

“To renounce or destroy politics is to destroy the very thing which gives order to the pluralism and variety of civilized society, the things which enables us to enjoy variety without suffering either anarchy or the tyranny of single truths, which become the desperate salvation from anarchy – just as misogamy and celibacy are forms of salvation for the overly passionate mind.“

“A government whose legitimacy is not maintained by a public adhesion to method, means, procedure, and participation will need the propagation of a myth of a single, true, substantive consensus as a kind of teleological `final-cause´ for society. And perhaps there are still societies in which the existence of such a consensus, drawn from religions foundations, hinders the development of a political system of government.“

“Realism from above is as necessary as clamour from below in acceptance of great political reforms – the history of the British franchise shows this. Clearly political rule is the best form of government, in many circumstances.” – Bernard Crick, In Defence of Politics, Continuum, 5th edition, 2009 reprinted.