The Most Important Thing

As I read John Gray’s reaction at NewStatesman to the terror attack in London the other day, it reminded me of a line from a play. Was it Cactus Flower? “The most important thing in the world to me is freedom. After I’ve eaten.”

Mr. Gray speculates that in the United Kingdom at least attention is turning to the “primary function” of government—providing security:

The ideal liberal order that was supposedly emerging in Europe is history. The task of defending public safety has devolved to national governments – the only institutions with the ability to protect their citizens.

The progressive narrative in which freedom is advancing throughout the world has left liberal societies unaware of their fragility. Overthrowing despots in the name of freedom, we have ended up facing a situation in which our own freedom is at stake. According to the liberal catechism, freedom is a sacred value, indivisible and overriding, which cannot be compromised. Grandiose theories of human rights have asserted that stringent limitations on state power are a universal requirement of justice. That endemic anarchy can be a more intractable obstacle to civilised existence than many kinds of despotism has been disregarded and passed over as too disturbing to dwell on.

I can’t speculate on how Germany, Belgium, or the United Kingdom will deal with their security problems. They should respond in the ways that are culturally and politically consistent with their own needs.

Here in the United States we face challenges of our own. We can keep foreigners out but, increasingly, Islamist terrorist attacks aren’t being perpetrated by foreigners. The idea that any foreseeable increases in federal, state, and local governments’ use of force will actually make us safer is far-fetched.

Another line that comes to mind, this one from Casablanca: “… there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn’t advise you to try to invade.” Our society and our problems are different so our solutions will inevitably be different.