"Henceforth, politics would not be a sphere in which human nature is perfected; the political project would not include pointing people to their highest potentials. Instead, modern politics would be based on the assumption that people will express and act upon the strong impulses of their flawed natures. People will be self-interested. The ancients had asked, What is the highest of which mankind is capable and how can we pursue this? Hobbes and subsequent moderns asked, What is the worst that can happen and how can we avoid it?"
-- George F. Will, "Religion and the American Republic," National Affairs
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