I agree that “communities need a ‘sacred Thou’ story for ‘caring & trust’ – which may be why racially homogeneous countries have less trouble handling income inequality than racially diverse countries, all other things being equal. Robert Putnam’s study showing highly diverse communities have much less communal participation, even within racial or ethnic groups than more homogeneous communities. (America has been uniquely able to integrate diverse ethnic groups of all multi-ethnic countries.) But my thought about Brooks’ column on Buber’s “I – Thou” thesis: It’s more related to “church” than to “state”; in America, we try to separate church and state. Brooks is merging them back together again. Combining “churchly” functions with the state. Just what we DON’T need IMO. You know, Max Weber’s analysis of why America has such a high degree of individual freedom, very limited government, and so many private, church and charitable organizations – compared to other countries. Our tradition of Protestant Christianity – as opposed to Roman Catholic – or other traditions, such as those found in the Far East.