C.S. Lewis was a proponent of civil liberty, for much the same reason that I am: who is to say that one person (or some group) will make better decisions for your life than you? Who is so superior that we should trust them to run our lives for us?
He's talking about oppressive government, socialism/dictatorship - power seized by "a small, highly disciplined group of people . . I do not think any group good enough to have such power. They are men of like passions with ourselves."
"For every Government consists of mere men." Think of some past European monarchs who claimed a "divine right" to their throne, their rule over other men and women. No one thinks today that they were superior beings. They were at least as flawed as me and you.
The traditional American way is the way of free and civil debate, grounded in personal virtue and a conscience trained by churches that teach the Bible. Note to my global readers - as you may know, this is less and less a description of today's America.
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