Tyranny with a smile
Wish I'd said that!
[Reprinted from Issues & Views December 24, 2001]
The government has long since decided that the Constitution must be interpreted with a certain latitude, which always means letting the government stretch its own powers as far as it pleases. This is the familiar idea that the Constitution is a "living document," which is to say, a dead letter. How can it be "living" if it's mere putty in the hands of the powerful? Really living things resist manipulation. . . .
Tyranny doesn't have to mean a grumpy dictator with a funny mustache; it can be exercised by pleasant guys who shave and smile. Its essence is lawless government--government that makes countless laws because it recognizes no law above itself.
Without wishing to be disagreeable, I merely suggest that the Constitution is a lesser evil than a government that takes infinite liberties with it while pretending to honor it.
-- Joseph Sobran, excerpt from "The Lesser Evil," Sobran's newsletter, December 2001. For the most candid insights on culture, government and society, subscribe to Sobran's.
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