How does a nation build social capital, when social capital mostly has to come FROM individuals, rather than be given TO individuals? — Bitter Crank

Social capital can come from a sense of national belonging or unity, but I am not talking about this in a nationalistic sense as this can be abstract and broad. I am talking about this in a more traditional conservative sense where in the pre revolutionary era (before 1848) life was centred upon faith in God and the Kaiser (King). In a sense resulted together seemingly isolated villages, but led to strong communities in those villages where everyone would know each other and this would create a sense of unity, which links to the “village” idea of the discussion. In a sense the 1848 revolutions attempted to destroy this connection through a variety of ways such as liberalism and nationalism, changing the balance of power around the world, which ultimately affected the village community.

Absolutely right. Proves the point that one can be more virtuous from memorising all of the gospels, rather than being a philosopher, as philosophy eventually leads down to faith.

Everyone is born equal, under God. A person's life choices will make oneself different from others, but from the beginning we are all same, and will be the same forever, as God loves all (John 5:42).