quote unquote: Lincoln on political virtue

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." -- Abraham Lincoln

The Law: the abdication of consitutional responsibility by the judicial branch

Law Is Everywhere (pdf) by Owen Fiss is a remarkable essay from the Yale Law Journal on the ability -- and the necessity -- of the courts to uphold the rule of law in the face of attempted usurpations of power by the executive, based on the experience of Israel, a country far more threatened by terrorism than the United States. <http://yalelawjournal.org/117/2/fiss.html>

Bush Prods Congress to Impeach **

In a surprisingly cogent lecture yesterday, the noted historian George W. Bush compared Democratic Party leaders in Congress to politicians who ignored the rise of Lenin and Hitler nearly a century ago, saying "the world paid a terrible price" then and risks similar consequences for inaction today. Bush did not quite conclude that the inability of the U.S. legislature to rein in an out-of-control executive exactly mirrors the failure of democratic forces to act when the Bolsheviks and Nazis manipulated democratic institutions to establish totalitarian regimes in Russia and Germany, but he did say that, in his words, "History teaches us that underestimating the words of evil, ambitious men is a terrible mistake." With the current administration assaulting democracy at home and pursuing an imperial agenda abroad, to paraphrase the president, Bush, Cheney and their "allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them. And the question is, will we listen?"

** All quotes real

quote unquote: Aristotle on the last refuge of scoundrels

A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider God-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, wrongly believing that he has the Gods on his side. -- Aristotle: Politica

quote unquote: Hume on Patriotism and Tyranny

Mankind are, in all ages, caught by the same baits: The same tricks, played over and over again, still trepan them. The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny; flattery to treachery; standing armies to arbitrary government; and the glory of God to the temporal interest of the clergy. – David Hume, “Of Public Credit,” Essays Moral, Political and Literary (1754)