Here’s something from my "Christian American Political Realism (in CHRISTIANITY AND POWER POLITICS TODAY, ed.. E. Patterson (2008): "As Harvey Mansfield writes, our ‘manly’ desire to display our nobility as indispensably important, transcendent beings is fundamentally a political characteristic. That desire must be shaped and limited by a realistic standard of perfection that is more than a whimsical personal preference, one that is shared by others whom one really knows and loves. Political ife is, in large part, our earthly pursuit of recognition from those we know well enough to love, respect, and admire. The ‘political’ desire to be recognized in our indispensable, irreplaceable personal significance points beyond itself in the direction of a personal God who sees us all as we truly are."
