It’s something of a trick question. Michael Hannon, drawing on the reflections of the great 20th c Thomist Charles de Koninck, replies to Robert George’s argument that the common good is not an intrinsic good, but in doing so, Hannon decisively rebuts the idea that saying that it is an intrinsic good leads to totalitarianism or at least an overreaching State- an excellent contribution to a very important conversation.