In Michael Sandel's latest book entitled Democracy's Discontent (1996), he argues that the prevailing public philosophy (what he calls the procedural republic) that informs America's institutions undermines self-government and a sense of community. Does John Rawls support the procedural republic? Contrary to what Sandel contends, I argue that it is not fair to label Rawls as a leading proponent of the procedural republic. Rawls's egalitarian liberalism does not endorse the public philosophy that has informed American Constitutional Law and the political economy for the past half a century.
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