On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.
On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the
generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would
like to help, contact us.
___________
Like the sovereign described by Thomas Hobbes, this system encompasses and organizes collective life. But unlike Hobbes's Leviathan, it does not command from above.
The left built its entire moral authority on grievance. It taught a generation that resentment is a credential, that envy is conscience, that hatred is permitted so long as the target is sufficiently fortunate.
Shakespeare's concern is not merely that authority can become abusive. It is that human beings can internalize authority so completely that they cease to trust their own judgment altogether.
