I more meant Heaven - which while we don't know for a fact exists in the Dresden Files (Uriel was exceptionally tight lipped on the subject) - I think it is heavily implied to exist. Uriel wasn't so sure Harry would end up there either, when Harry last flirted with death. I wonder where Harry is on the scale now.
I remember that passage from Ghost Story, and Uriel didn't say one way or the other, though Uriel is an archangel, it isn't his place or job to judge Harry or anyone else.
Not all people in the world do actually hold that as a central idea. Many places do not have the luxury of the kind of freedom we enjoy. Some places and societies even believe that they prefer a lessening of one's personal freedoms for the "greater good" of their society. I am sure you can work out which places those are. But even in countries like the US, not everyone holds liberty as highly as others. Hence all the politics. But Harry does hold liberty highly, higher than most. He might not be Ron Swanson (if you have ever seen Parks and Rec) and not believe in no government etc but I would say he is less likely to allow himself to be governed than ever before. I will concede that he seems to have more respect for mortal governments than supernatural ones...which is highly interesting.
I haven't seen Parks and Rec, but Harry does allow himself to be governed, as Winter Knight, he is governed by Mab.. Yes, he wiggles as much as he can with in her rules and the rules that govern the Winter Court, but he respects them and obeys most of them.
I mean, it's hard to say. Depending on your definition of corruption - is it simply corrupted by its own political power, or has black magic corrupted their purpose etc. At one point, Harry thought that the White Council was so corrupt and infiltrated by the theoretical Black Council, that he needed to help create a Grey Council (whatever happened to them, by the way, haven't heard a peep from them in 5 books). Ebenezar constantly would chastise Harry for suggesting there should be no White Council, even suggested that it might be worth Harry's life for suggesting such a thing in days gone by. I think the question becomes does Harry think the current White Council is too corrupt to exist?
It isn't a simple problem of the White Council being infiltrated by the likes of the Black Council.. Harry wants to reform, not to abolish the White Council. I don't ever remember where Harry was arguing with Eb that there should be no White Council. However there is a bit of a problem when a large percentage of future wizards lose their heads because they make mistakes when their talent awakes and the fear that they may go warlock.. And then there are those that do go warlock because there aren't enough wizards to take them under their wing.. You see the problem here, wizards live a long time, but new blood is needed, and the rules that worked great six hundred or so years ago might not work quite as well in the 21st Century.
Oooh, I am not sure I agree with that. One of the clearest parts of the series is about how much individual choices matter. Harry has chosen his path, no one walked it for him. The consequences of it are on him. Earlier in the series he chose to be a loner, but these days it's worse than that. He made deals with vampires and faeries and other monsters, he pushed against the White Council's restrictions and even got himself in political fights with them, he has lied and pushed away many of his former allies in order to "save" them but also to protect himself, and he has done a LOT of questionable stuff that without context doesn't look great from the outside (and even with context some of which still is pretty questionable). Most of all, he has gathered a hell of a lot of personal and political power in a very short amount of time. That's the sort of thing that scares people. It's not for nothing that Mab loves Harry's rise to power.
Harry has never chosen to be a loner, he isn't a social butterfly, but he never was a loner.. He has always had friends, Michael for one.. There have always been those who have sacrificed themselves not just for his causes, but for him because of their love for
him.
Are you sure about that? His disdain for the White Council is fairly evident. He refused to attend regular Council meetings, barely visits HQ in Edinburgh (to the point that only Rashid, the most mysterious wizard, visited less), refused for the longest time to learn proper Latin or wear a formal robe (he literally wore a dirty bath robe - if that isn't disrespectful I don't know what is), argued publicly with the Merlin and actually beat him politically, refused for the longest time to be a Warden (openly hated them until he was forced to be one), and after "dying" ended up with a powerful new role in a shady group (the Winter Court) and refused to tell the White Council what was going on until Rashid did it for him.
Just because he doesn't attend the White Council's meetings doesn't mean he has no respect for them. Yeah, he didn't wear the proper robe to the meeting once but his good robe was covered in puke, blood, or cat poop I cannot remember which... That was also at a time when Harry was suffering clearly from severe depression his person and apartment reflected that. Learning any language takes time, Harry didn't know the White Council existed until he was arrested by them and they nearly took his head. He never finished high school though he did eventually get his GED.. He was still of high school age when he went to live with Eb.. Eb could have made him finish high school and take Latin, but he didn't. His argument with the Merlin was out of respect for the very rules of the White Council, and it was under those very rules he was able to save Molly.. If he had no faith in those rules he wouldn't have advised her to surrender to the Wardens in the first place.. Harry was under the Doom for years, and after many on the Council didn't want him, it was only out of nessesity that Luccio drafted him.
But really, who is Harry to decide what the rules of the White Council (or any form of government) should be? What has he done in his life to show that he should be trusted with good governance and is an expert on such things? I don't think you want the human wrecking ball deciding on public policy.
He isn't deciding what the rules of the White Council should be, but he does question whether or not they are all that they could be. Governments of any form are not perfect, sometimes bad laws are made, ineffective laws are made, some laws that worked great a hundred years ago, no longer apply now, the smarter governments recognize this and evolve.. Actually what has happened in Harry's life and what he has seen has made him very expert in these things, he nearly was a victim.
As above, I think Harry has done plenty to isolate himself. That's what Ebenezar was warning him about. Yes, the White Council is its own worst enemy. Yes, Harry has been pushed and manipulated and yes, their were plenty of extenuating circumstances to the things Harry has done. But. Harry's distrust and fear of the White Council and some of his own allies has kept them in the dark, and that is why they don't know why he is doing what he is doing. He might even be right to keep them in the dark - but that's the choice he made, and the consequences are on him.
He isn't the only one, Rashid is another who has isolated himself from the Council, but he has years of experience on how to do it without alienation of the Council. However that isolation is a two way street, the Council's own prejudice against Harry because of who his mother was has gone a long way to isolate Harry.
Harry is highly logical at times, but he is also incredibly emotional. Look at what he has done when emotional. He even knows and admits how little he is in control during those moments. Even so, logic alone won't be enough to stop him being manipulated. It's too late - he already has been manipulated. He is already outside the Council and prepared to fight them. It's a power keg scenario. Do you really think Harry Dresden, paragon of self-control, will hold back when the White Council does something harsh and unfair like try and arrest him for trumped up charges or perhaps attack those he loves? What if they arrest or kill friends of his? What if they took Maggie away? Harry would burn them to the ground. He's done it before. He's way stronger now, far more dangerous.
And should he? Really? Who was in control in Peace Talks, Eb or Harry? Who understood from the beginning that he didn't have a chance toe to toe with Eb and figured out a way around it?