Category Archives: government

Liberty, Fraternity, Equality

“The process of execution was also a sad and heartrending spectacle.  In the middle of Place de la Revolution was erected a guillotine, in front of a colossal statue of Liberty, represented seated on a rock, a cap on her … Continue reading

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It Squints Toward Monarchy

“This Constitution is said to have beautiful features: but when I come to examine these features, Sir, they appear to me horridly frightful: Among other deformities, it has an awful squinting: it squints towards monarchy: And does not this raise … Continue reading

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The Laws of Tyrants

“Most foolish of all is the belief that everything decreed by the institutions or laws of a particular country is just.  What if the laws are the laws of tyrants?  If the notorious Thirty* had wished to impose their laws … Continue reading

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The Spirit of Resistance

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like … Continue reading

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Never Trust a Mob

“We dare not encourage the mob very much.  It goes mad too quickly…And it is better for tyrants to wrong them a hundred times than for the mob to treat the tyrant unjustly but once.  If injustice is to be … Continue reading

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Melanchthon on Slavery and Natural Law

“Also in civil law, as they call it, there are many things that reflect human affections instead of natural laws.  For what it more foreign to the law of nature than slavery?….a good man will fashion civil constitutions according to … Continue reading

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Playing the Tyrant

“The nobles had played the tyrant often enough in the past; but now the proletariat was on top and showed itself as arrogant as they had been.” Sallust, Chap. 5 in The Jugurthine War, trans. S. A. Handford (London: Penguin, 1963), … Continue reading

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Exchanging Tyrants

“This is clear at once to the dullest-witted man in Rome that, so far from having escaped from tyranny, they had only exchanged one tyrant for another.  As for the elder Marius, he had always had a savage character, and … Continue reading

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The Show Must Go On

“Finally, make sure that your entire campaign is full of pomp, glamorous, eye-catching, and popular, that it has the maximum visibility and prestige.  Also, be sure if at all possible that your competitors acquire a bad reputation for vice, or … Continue reading

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He Scatters the Peoples Who Delight in War

“It is not right to start a war just because some silly lord has gotten the idea into his head. At the very outset I want to say that whoever starts a war is in the wrong.  And it is … Continue reading

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