The author of the source believes in an ideal society with elements of collectivism and authoritarianism. They are critical of some of the elements of democracies, however, the system of democracy is still put into use in the source and within that some of the liberal ideas. Because of that, we can infer that the source isnt desiring a revolutionary change. The author of the source believes that within that, the implementation of a strong leader taking charge can best work towards the common good of society as a whole. With a strong leader, they can effectively run the state and bring order and stability, as opposed to letting irrational individuals organize themselves. An individual who would agree with this idea is Thomas Hobbes, who believed that we should give our obedience to a strong leader, and that may include giving up our civil liberties. Otherwise, we will be in a state of nature which closely resembles civil war, a situation of universal insecurity. He believed in the idea of security over freedom. The source explains this idea by arguing that the protecting of civil liberties puts the stability of the state at risk. The idea of collectivism and working toward the common good of society is an idea shown by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He believed that the end goal of any state is the realization of the common good and the pursuit of it then enables the state to act as a moral community. Therefore, individuals must not serve in their own self-interest,
but in the interest of society as a whole. Both of these philosophers somewhat go against liberal beliefs by focusing on the collective, more than the ideas involved in individualism such as the pursuit of self-interest and civil liberties. The author of the source and individuals who agrees with the authors perspective would also most likely agree with the ideas of J.J Rousseau and Thomas Hobbes, thinking that the implementation of a strong leader will bring many benefits to the state. They would follow a more collective standpoint, believing that a strong leader will help achieve this collective good, and provide efficiency and stability in the government. People who would oppose this point of view would support the ideas of liberalism and would strongly support liberal principles, such as personal rights and freedoms. They would argue the fact that the perspective of the source goes against the ideas of democracy as it represents liberal thought but the idea of the over-excessive importance of civil liberties goes against that. Another argument that may be presented is that the need to protect civil liberties does not result in undermining the stability of the state, but actually enhance it by providing a sense of accountability from the government. Based on my analysis of the source, I believe that the perspective of the source should not be embraced, and argue that the need and protection of civil liberties do ultimately bring stability to our society.