dangerousmeta!, the original new mexican miscellany, offering eclectic linkage since 1999.

On this inauguration day,

some thoughts and recommendations:

On George Bush in general:

“He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.”
- Winston Churchill.

On the promotion of torture:

“Is it the less dishonest to do what is wrong, because not expressly prohibited by written law? Let us hope our moral principles are not yet in that stage of degeneracy.”
- Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 1813.

On the lead-in to the Iraq War:

“Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.”
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, radio address, October 26, 1939.

On the Iraq War itself:

“There never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to
prevent the drawing of the sword.”
- General Ulysses S. Grant.

Owning up to the mistakes in Iraq:

“Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.”
- Andrew Jackson.

On talking of freedom and liberty:

“We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word many mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name - liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names - liberty and tyranny.”
- Abraham Lincoln, Address at Baltimore.

On corporate interests:

“There can be no equality or opportunity if men and women and children be not shielded in their lives from the consequences of great industrial and social processes which they cannot alter, control, or singly cope with.”
- Woodrow Wilson.

On America-as-Christian-nation:

“Among the features peculiar to the political system of the United States, is the perfect equality of rights which it secures to every religious sect.”
- James Madison, 1820.

On gathering more power to the Executive Branch:

“Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.”
- John Adams.

On the Legislative Branch:

“I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.”
- Ronald Reagan.

And I end this brief political quotefest, chastened:

“There are two kinds of fool. One says, ‘This is old, and therefore good.’ And one says, ‘This is new, and therefore better.’”
- William Ralph Inge, Evening Standard.

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