Liberalism between individual interest and collective values from Montesquieu perspective, as Leo Strauss sees it

Leo Strauss noted that the state's crisis is in abandoning the idea of ​​political virtue and replacing it with laws, but the truth lies in the spirit of the laws and not in their form and the mechanism of their enforcement or their application. Therefore the political virtue that Montesquieu proposes and that Strauss finds a haven is the solution. This political virtue requires submission to the laws, self-denial and work for the collective interest not the individual one. For instance, Strauss suggests the need to return to classical philosophical thought, which combines the two issues (virtue and law) or, in other words, the laws of reason and the idea of ​​sacrifice as it is dictated in the Christian religion. The distinction between virtue and politics is no longer possible, at least at the practical level. Yet, it is only possible at the linguistic or rhetorical levels. The pillar of liberalism is freedom and team work and its ultimate goal is improving the performance of institutions, and, thus, the individual effort (moral law) is intertwined with the collective interest (political law). Therefore, there will be no conflict between moral virtue and political one.