The big split in political philosophy is the one between John Locke and Jean Jacque Rousseau. Locke believed that men had to be free in order to better serve their God, and Rousseau believed men had to be free of God. Locke believed that freedom meant free of arbitrary coercion by other men. Rousseau believed in the Will of the People.
As it turns out, Rousseau has won the argument almost everywhere in the world. Locke only has a remnant left in this country, and they hang on by the skin of their teeth and fingernails.
And then they are blamed because, remnant that they are, they could not accomplish more than they have accomplished in building the most free society on earth, against all odds and with absolutely no help from the majority.
As a Christian I would say it is forever thus.