as a gift of power

It might be asked if freedom is possible in a society like the Portuguese where people are regarded, and regard themselves, as súbditos of power. The answer is a categorical no under conditions of democracy. For in this regime people who hold power are themselves súbditos, although temporarily in a sovereign position.

For the same reason that there can be no freedom in a community of slaves governed by slaves, freedom cannot prevail in a community of súbditos governed by súbditos. In a democratic society made up of súbditos access to power is a unique opportunity in a lifetime and one that only a small fraction of the population can afford. What those súbditos in power will most likely do is to take advantage of their condition as temporary senhores to grab as many privileges and influence as they can so as to live as long as possible at the expense of the permanent súbditos - the general citizenry.

It is only when they are in power that these súbditos turned temporary senhores see themselves as free men and women. Freedom in this society is a condition attached to power and one of the privileges of holding power. It is not a universal condition. Those in power do not regard other men and women as their fellow-citizens and their equals; they regard them as inferiors, as súbditos, who must pay for their privileges, their grandiose plans and their manias, and whose lives they can freely influence and manipulate and eventually abuse.

A society whose culture is such that people regard themselves as súbditos has no civil tradition of freedom and will be unable to develop one. Freedom will never come from civil society. It can only come from power - and as a gift of power. This cannot be expected to occur under conditions of democracy where the people who hold power have themselves the mentality of súbditos as they are drawn from the general citizenry. Universal freedom in a society with such a culture requires that power be held by a very special kind of men or women, some sort of an aristocracy.