The poorest being that crawls on earth, contending to save itself from injustice and oppression, is an object respectable in the eyes of God and man. But I cannot conceive any existence under heaven (which in the depths of its wisdom tolerates all sorts of things) that is more truly odious and disgusting than an impotent, helpless creature, without civil wisdom or military skill, without a consciousness of any other qualification for power but his servility to it, bloated with pride and arrogance, calling for battles which he is not to fight, contending for a violent dominion which he can never exercise, and satisfied to be himself mean and miserable, in order to render others contemptible and wretched. - Edmund Burke, "Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol", 1777.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Burke's Commentary on the Bush Administration
Via digby, Scott Horton in Harper's writes out Edmund Burke's condemnation of the Bush Administration. It includes this quote, about Bush's cheerleaders:
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