I was published in the March 2007 issue of Liberty Magazine with an article titled “Twenty Observations on Liberty and Society.”
In this article, I argue that totalitarian government is usually a symptom of something deeper: a totalitarian culture. Political institutions emerge from the moral assumptions, habits, and expectations of the people, and removing a dictator or importing democratic institutions cannot create liberty where respect for the individual is absent.
Drawing on my experiences in India and the West, I examine how coercion reproduces itself through families, schools, bureaucracy, social hierarchies, and political life. I also warn that the West is weakening the cultural foundations that once sustained its freedom.
The article begins on page 33 of the print issue, continues through page 37, and concludes on page 53.