The Dangers of Individualism

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The most important things about society are what we see in that space between the individual and the state. Payne made an argument that a lot of progressives today make, which is that what happens in that space is actually illegitimate. And not only that, but they often provide shelter for certain attitudes and prejudices that don't belong in a free society. "I think that that's a concern that libertarians should be alert to," he says.

Yuval Levin, author of The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left, talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas of Burke and Paine and their influence on the evolution of political philosophy. Levin outlines the differing approaches of the two thinkers to liberty, authority, and how reform and change should take place. Other topics discussed include Hayek's view of tradition, Cartesian rationalism, the moral high ground in politics, and how the "right and left" division of American politics finds its roots in the debates of these thinkers from the 1700s.