A response to "the liberal bargain"

I would like to offer a short response to Michael’s inquiry Damon Linker’s perspective on “the liberal bargain” and whether, as Michael suggested, it disenfranchises the Catholic citizen.

I begin with the self-admonition that I may need to learn more about the origin of “the liberal bargain.” But, at first blush, it appears to be based on one type of social contract theory in which the participants have actually negotiated and mutually assented to this bargain.

So far so good, but the Linker thesis needs a bit more scrutiny. First of all a significant condition is attached—a condition that Damon Linker provides and requires. This, in my estimation, has an important effect on the nature of the bargain. Moreover, the condition appears to be beyond negotiation to such an extent that it negates the ability to bargain. The condition also is premised on an important assumption: that the believer, in this case the Catholic citizen, has the “ambition to political rule in the name of [one’s] faith.” In Linker’s view that has been expressed in the Linker-Douthat exchange, there seems to be no possibility that the Catholic citizen desires to participate in the work of the polis by proposing rather than imposing views that are based on the Catholic citizen’s beliefs, which are based on reason. Linker insists that the Catholic citizen’s views based on faith are irrelevant because they are inextricably tied to “theological questions and disputes.” Again, Linker makes an assumption that denies the possibility that reason—right and natural—has formed the Catholic citizen’s views.

What Linker has reserved and claimed for his perspective is apparently denied to those who hold particular religious views that differ from or disagree with his own.

I wonder what Linker thinks about the views of the ardent environmentalist or the zealous advocate for “equality”? Surely these individuals consider their political views as articles of a type of faith. So, could one use Linker’s argument to conclude that these views must also be declared “irrelevant”?

If Dr. Linker has made an offer in his version of “the liberal bargain,” it seems to be one that needs to be refused--at least by the Catholic citizen who employs reason to conclude that his or her views have much to contibute to the betterment of society and common life in the polis.   RJA sj