I have never been an avid reader of Public Discourse, perhaps because of its manifest classical liberal leanings. Also, it looks like another forum for the Acton Institute.
Last week I discussed briefly Dylan Pahman’s article on religious liberty begetting economic liberty. This time I want to take a look at Samuel Gregg’s latest, “Poverty, the Rule of Law, and Human Flourishing.” Gregg, as many of you may know, is the Acton Institute’s Research Director and the author of Tea Party Catholic. (I have mentioned Gregg before in an earlier post, “The Crony Capitalism Claim.”) Like many of his fellow Actonites, Gregg promotes the marriage of Catholic Social Thought and economic liberalism while, more generally, maintaining that the principles of political liberalism are not only defensible in the light of reason, but essential for what he calls “human flourishing.” In fact, Acton has an entire “wing” dedicated to this idea, PovertyCure. One of the core components of Gregg’s article, and the PovertyCure, project is the idea of the “rule of law.” But what does that mean? And, more importantly, is Gregg (and other Actonites) concerned with the “rule of law” in the abstract or a particular type of law in the concrete? The “rule of law,” when put into practice, isn’t neutral, and it is not intrinsically libertarian.