State v. The People
Orestes Brownson said, on a speaking tour on “The Church and the Republic,” that every society is exposed to two opposite dangers: absolutism of the state and absolutism of the individual. In order to mediate between the two dangers, and give each, the state and the individual, their due, there must be a third party, and the only party capable of mediating is the Church.
It would be interesting to know what Brownson would say about those opposing twin dangers in light of a situation today where both seemed to have gained enormous power at the same time. Moreover, both ascended to their power at the same that religious life, including the Catholic Church's influence, reached low ebb.
How was this dual absolutism accomplished? One theory: By the Supreme Court's apotheosis of rights that (poorly) substitute for God's displacement from public affairs.
