Originally published at: Fear, Greed, Civic Virtue and the Fall of the Elites - TPM – Talking Points Memo
Members of America’s founding generation had an ambivalent and evolving understanding of the role and importance of public or civic “virtue”. In the 1760s and 1770s many of them were caught up in a kind of republican idea world which made this kind of virtue the cornerstone of any republic. The anchor of republican government…
