In Political Economy, Rousseau questions the nature of patriotism. With the rise of "transnational interests" and evaporation of the borders between nations through rising globalization, "[h]ow among so many other interests, can patriotism grow?" This is his response:
"If children are brought up in common in the bosom of equality; if
they are imbued with the laws of the State and the precepts of the
general will; if they are taught to respect these above all things; if
they are surrounded by examples and objects which constantly re-
mind them of the tender mother who nourishes them, of the love
she bears them, of the inestimable benefits they receive from her,
and of the return they owe her, we cannot doubt that they will learn
to cherish one another mutually as brothers, to will nothing con-
trary to the will of society, to substitute the actions of men and citi-
zens for the futile and vain babbling of sophists, and to become in
time defenders and fathers of the country of which they will have
been so long the children."
Children and brothers and mothers. The elementary components of society in a way determine its manner and sense of existence.
