Words Worth Noting

Favorite Quotes


"Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait point. French. Pascal. The heart has its reasons, whereof reason knows nothing."— Madeleine L'Engle

Thursday, October 28, 2004

"The Triumph of Anything Goes" by David Greenberg

Not new, but still highly noteworthy analysis from historian David Greenberg (Harvard '91):

"Bush and his team have shown contempt for many of the bedrock elements of liberal democracy, including public access to information; a press that interrogates its leaders; a give-and-take between parties that represent different interests; a separation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches; the preference for reason over the use of force; and the support of legal safeguards to prevent the arbitrary exercise of power by the executive. They have routinely violated the bounds of acceptable political behavior in a democracy.

... the anything-goes attitude comprises
more than the sum total of these instances. It's a philosophy, a set of premises
and prejudices, that scorns deliberation and dissent, exalts brute power, drips
with disrespect for the spirit (if not the letter) of the law, stiff-arms
compromise, and mocks the popular will."

No comments:

Post a Comment