Last night at the Catholic University of America, two thoughtful conservatives engaged in another round of a debate on the nature of conservativism and the goals of government. The debate's first round began earlier this summer in a piece in First Things by the first interlocutor, the Roman Catholic Sohrab Ahmari. He argued that Christians needed to stop being so nice and to fight the "culture war" with the aim of "defeating the enemy and enjoying the spoils in the form of a public square re-ordered to the common good and ultimately the Highest Good."
Isn't that theocracy, asked Ahmari's critics. "While the federal government should seek the common good, its first responsibility is to secure the liberty of its citizens," said the Presbyterian David French in National Review, who was the foil for Ahmari's piece and last night's second interlocutor.
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