The Dictatorship of Virtue Certain opinions are no longer treated as debatable; they are treated as evidence of bigotry or harm. Enforced virtue has never produced better people. Certain opinions are no longer treated as debatable; they are treated as evidence of bigotry or harm. During the French Revolution, Maximilien Robespierre argued that the new republic required citizens whose private convictions aligned with revolutionary virtue. A dictatorship of virtue eventually consumes its own promises.