Tyranny and Oppression
If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.
—James Madison, fourth US president (1751-1836)
People who drink to drown their sorrows should be told that sorrow knows how to swim.
— Ann Landers.
There’s no such thing as a glass ceiling. It’s just a thick layer of men.
— Laura Liswood, Secretary-General Council of Women World Leaders
You don’t need to leave your room.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
Don’t even listen, simply wait.
Don’t even wait.
Be quite still and solitary.
The world will freely offer itself to you.
To be unmasked, it has no choice.
It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
— Franz Kafka
It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
— Charles Darwin
I started with nothing and I still have most of it left.
— Unknown
Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
— Mark Twain
As I watched the latest meltdown from the latest cabinet confirmations I can’t help but think that Mark Twain may have been on to something in his assessment of people who run for political office.
It has been obvious to me for a long time that congress is broken. I couldn’t quite articulate exactly how I thought it was broken but I knew something was wrong. And then I discovered Lawrence Lessig’s latest mission. Partnering with Joe Trippi, he is determined to change congress. He makes a powerful case that lobbying and special interests have eroded the very foundations of the constitution.