I don't disagree that Gray is tendentious, but I really can't reconcile your first paragraph with what I read in his essay. Among other things, Gray points out

I don't disagree that Gray is tendentious, but I really can't reconcile your first paragraph with what I read in his essay. Among other things, Gray points out that Voltaire and Bentham advocated "enlightened despotism." If that's not a difference of values, what is?