As always, an interesting and worthwhile essay from Ms. Reiff: the more I learn, including what I learned from reading this essay, the more convinced I become that the key to the survival of Liberal society (meaning one in which liberty and equality are taken to be the ‘twin pillars of justice’) is for us to recognize mutual respect (of a basic kind: taking one another into account) as the ethic of justice.

• A requirement of mutual respect follows from a belief in human equality.
• A society governed by mutual respect would maximize liberty as a practical matter.
• Since mutual respect is already the ethic that governs democracy as we know it, political democracy would be reinforced.
• Unlike equality, mutual respect can be directly applied efficaciously to the governance of the economy, with astonishing results: “For Crying Out Loud, ACCEPT That A SOLUTION Actually EXISTS” (a “2 min read” — including options for further reading — also here in Medium). [My frustration is showing because I know how long I have been touting this economic paradigm and how much it could do for everyone in our society, especially in the present situation.]