“[Weber’s] failure lay in his inattentiveness to the manner in which crucial concept and patterns of thought that lie at the heart of commercial society first appeared in a somewhat systematic form during the Middle Ages, especially through the particular attention accorded during this period to the importance and implications of human liberty, private property, free exchange, the rule of law, and civility.”

“Many of the features of political, legal, and economic life which are often corralled under the term ‘globalization’ are effectively universalizations of the foundations of commercial society.”

“To put it briefly, [in a market society] we move on an intermediate plane. It is not the summit of heroes and saints, of simon-pure altruism, selfless dedication, and contemplative calm, but neither is it the lowlands of open or concealed struggle in which force and cunning determine the victor and the vanquished.”

“Whereas federal money was once spent in response to the claims of distinct and organized clients, public or private, in the contemporary period federal money has increasingly been spent in ways that have created such clients.”

“What was created in the name of the common good is sustained in the name of the particular interest