PoliTree
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    • PoliTree: Final Results

    At long last, you have arrived at the Paternalist branch of the Integralist leaf within the Restore cluster.

    Paternalists see society as a collective organism, whose spiritual and material wellbeing are deeply connected. They believe that a virtuous society must both set standards for and provide for all of its members.
    Things to note about the Paternalist branch:
    • The specifics and interpretations of morality/virtue vary from religion to religion.
    • Paternalism manifests in different ways across the spectrum. Christian democrats are typically moderate, liberation theology tends to be associated with the far-left, whereas national conservatism is more aligned with the far right.
    • A lot of Western literature dealing with the topic comes from a Catholic/Christian viewpoint, however movements within other religions have been known to take upon these stances.
    • What sets apart a paternalist from other conservatives is their belief that the government (or larger society in general) has the responsibility to promote the economic and moral wellbeing of all citizens.
    Ideologies you may want to look into:
    • Christian Democracy
    • Liberation Theology
    • Progressive Conservatism
    +Good places to start if you are interested in Integralist thought:
    • PDF
      Length: ★★☆
      Difficulty: ☆
      Genre: Politics
      Type: Critique
      Summary: Babbitt defends the necessity of a transcendent moral standard to base society upon, arguing that no amount of democratic goodwill is capable of compensating for a lack of integrity.
    • PDF
      Length: ★
      Difficulty: ★★★
      Genre: Politics
      Type: Seminal
      Summary: Aquinas investigates the nature of law, looking to understand its origins and the justification for its existence, whether it be divinely or naturally inspired.
    • PDF ePUB
      Length: ★
      Difficulty: ★
      Genre: Ethics
      Type: Critique
      Summary: MacIntyre tangles with the Enlightenment's inability to grapple with moral issues, and the various ways in which it has affected modern society.
    +Good places to start if you are interested in Paternalist thought:
    • PDF ePUB
      Length: ★★
      Difficulty: ★☆
      Genre: Economics
      Type: Theory
      Summary: Looking at free-market capitalism from a historical lens, Polanyi discusses how it has led to the breaking down of old communal bonds in favor of expanded trade.
    • PDF ePUB
      Length: ★★
      Difficulty: ★★☆
      Genre: History
      Type: Theory
      Summary: Lasch uses a combination of historical, psychoanalytic, and cultural analysis to understand the decline of traditional values of solidarity in favor of a culture of narrow self-interest. He traces it back to the foundations of modernity, both on a material and philosophic level.
    • PDF
      Length: ★★★★
      Difficulty: ★★★
      Genre: Politics
      Type: Theory
      Summary: Sturzo reflects on the relationship between the church as a social institution and the state as a political institution, eventually concluding that the strengthening of the community must come from the fusion of the two.