radical and comprehensive divergence in public policy was wholly accepted by
Tony Blair, thereby bringing about a new convergence between the parties. I
christened it ‘‘Blatcherism’’ in order to recall the similar somersault thirty years
before when the Conservaties adopted the major reforms of the Attlee government,
thereby earning the nickname ‘‘Butskellism.’’ In quite serious ways, however, Blair’s
Third Way was an advance from Blatcherism.
- 1 The Nation’s Constitution
What did these events teach me about political institutions? The main lesson was
that the liberal constitution performs the function of not only coordination, but
also integration. The collective thinking of deliberative democracy can reconcile
the diverse preferences of interest group pluralism. But who or what does this? To
say that ‘‘the people’’ rule does not say who the people are. One could take them
to include all mankind, as some Enlightenment radicals presumed. This utopian
hope is not to be disdained. It could be entertained as an operative ideal recognizing
and welcoming the possibility that existing units of self-government can be
expanded in ever wider regimes. The various peoples of the present European
Union of nation states may someday become suYciently integrated to act as
the European People who ordain a European Republic. In any case, it remains true
that the deWnition of the manner of government does not identify the unit of
government. Fierce conXicts sometimes rage between advocates who agree on the
manner of government, the democracy question, but disagree on who is to be
included, the nationality question. Under the American constitution, government
by the people is also expected to be government for the people. It is in our nationhood
that weWnd our sense of identity and purpose, telling us who we are and what we are
trying to make of ourselves. The legal text declares that ‘‘We, The People’’seek ‘‘a more
perfect union.’’
- 2 Three Models of Liberal Nationalism
There are various kinds of bonding by which a number of individuals may be
connected suYciently to form a self-governing unit. One is the simple libertarian
contract not to harm one another, and therefore to form and to support a
government that protects this right for all. Closer to reality the communitarian
model identiWes the national bond as a common culture which unites its members
710 samuel h. beer