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IPFS News Link • Government

Loyalty to Government Is Overrated

• https://fee.org, Andy Smarick

Many public leaders create this environment because they want a sense of security. If you're standing in the spotlight, making high-stakes decisions and coming under attack, it helps to have devoted supporters nearby.

Loyalty has been prized for ages. Cicero wrote: "Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable, than loyalty." Eric Felten, author of Loyalty: The Vexing Virtue, described it as "a glue that holds people together in a common endeavor." James Carville, a top aide to President Clinton wrote the book Stickin': The Case for Loyalty to promote the role of loyalty in politics.

But in the world of governing, loyalty can quickly get distorted into something dangerous. Taken to an extreme, loyalty reveals deeply troubling features about — and fosters deeply troubling characteristics in — those demanding it. It also damages those acceding to such demands.


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