Liberal democracy is premised on the idea of each individual having an equal right to a say in how they are governed, with freedom of speech and the mutual respect of each individual for the other. Again, such tolerance requires that we all have the same concept of tolerance and implement it in the same manner, which requires great discipline and training (the result of a shared education based on shared values). Tolerance does not imply tolerating the intolerant or any views of any kind, it requires not just agreed premises but premises that all can agree on, i.e. rational and calculable, based on empirical evidence.

To work it requires the ability for all to assess the quality and truth of arguments in open debate and then free elections, especially recognising that even the best intended decisions of today may be wrong tomorrow. Once again, this implies removing non-rational, subjective and emotional issues, such as religion, from debate, but preserving individuals’ rights to practice their beliefs in private without interference. This made constitutions based on civic principles of sociability fundamental to functioning liberal democracies, where what cannot be proved or demonstrated is removed from debate and discourse, thus promoting social cohesion and cooperation by using a shared language of economic, political and social discourse and communal interest that rises above belief systems.