A life in words

  • Crosswalk

    I was walking home from the library. As I was nearing crosswalk, a guy coming the other direction pushed the crossing button for me just in time for it to turn green as I arrived. I said thanks and went happily on home. It put a smile on my face. So push the button for…

  • ‘Bourne Ultimatum’ and the Rule of Law in a Republic

    Just watched The Bourne Ultimatum with my sister and my bro-in-law. Cool movie, very well done! Of course, amidst the excellent action, its philosophical point wasn’t wasted on me. I don’t know if the original book was really about this, but it was a timely statement on the tension between security and liberty. A Tale…

  • Faith in America

    I just watched Mitt Romney’s speech on “Faith in America” and was quite impressed. I was impressed how he framed his ideas in terms of the moral foundation of the Declaration of Independence—much as Lincoln framed his arguments against slavery not in any formalism in the Constitution, but on the Declaration. I was impressed by…

The principal difficulty lies, and the greatest care should be employed in constituting this Representative Assembly. It should be in miniature, an exact portrait of the people at large. It should think, feel, reason, and act like them. That it may be the interest of this Assembly to do strict justice at all times, it should be an equal representation, or in other words equal interest among the people should have equal interest in it. Great care should be taken to effect this, and to prevent unfair, partial, and corrupt elections.John Adams, Thoughts on Government, April 1776