The Pope dun got it rite ( sorry -- it just wanted to come out that way ).

P.S. I hope this isn't one of those campaigns to besmirch our country and/or re-write history. We also find plenty of people who treat poorly some religions and their central tenets and champions. Politically I tend to lean right ... and I plead guilty to considering PBS as leaning left ( though I doubt THEY'D self-analyze that way -- see how "open" I am ?? ).

For me -- "the jury's still out" on Cheney, and the appearance of an "odd" 8-year old quote makes me wonder "why now?"

There MUST be an "If" in the beginning of the quote. Not to say that anybody ( particularly a politician ) can't MISquote.
My education was neither in History nor English, but I recall the nation of laws, not men ... and ... the sentence isn't a complete sentence, is it ?
Interesting times, eh what ? Imagine what President Obama's book of "quotations" will look like !
I hope it isn't a correct quote, or, he's making a point by using the accurate words in an inaccurate way. Not a Cheney "fan," but not anxious to smear anyone -- even Obama, who's put his foot in it many times -- I chalk up HIS errors to the need to get votes ... Cheney wouldn't need that excuse, right ?

"Hear, Hear !"

How did those Wyomingites get so smart ?

BTW, I'm told VT's legislature has its sights on
the SECOND AMENDMENT.

Citizens, arise !

Conversely, when one person can avoid taking a nation to war, the republic may suffer a horrendous defeat without even trying to defend itself. ( My history's not good, but didn't FDR resist reacting to Pearl Harbor ? )

Al ... AMEN ! I'm 85, not illiterate though not well-read, and above all, more ignorant than I wish I were re: governmental structuring. But note: this is the FIRST time I remember seeing, or knowing of, the existence of this part of our Constitution. A PROUD GUARANTEE INDEED -- interesting how INfrequently I've been made aware of it. AMEN and again I say, AMEN !

Guess we're all on the same plane: he makes an excellent summation of the criticality of independent governance first; the rest will follow of natural course.

... I don't know where I heard/read it (maybe here!), but it stuck with me: "The freedom to be wrong." That should make all of us ( yes, you too -- oh, and me, also ) feel FREE !

... at one time there was an expression: "self-control." I never was very good at it ... oh, the "self" wasn't difficult, but "control" ? Uh-uh ! I too often became my 2-year-old self, stomped my 2-year-old-foot and exclaimed, "I can do it if I want to! -- OR -- " I don't have to if I don't want to !"
Ah, a 2-year old's self-governing. Will we ever grow up ?

... and what, Dr. J., was "our goal:" was it mine, as well .. or don't individuals count in the group "our" ?

Hm ... I'd never thought about a ranking of rights, although we do tend to rank wrongs. Surely somewhere, sometime, someone would have established a non-alphabetical listing of our rights; perhaps beginning with subsets of from whence they come. I'm serious and glad Mike has raised the issue.

Democracy needed ( and still needs ) a modifier: republic. Otherwise we turn into four kids meeting in a garage, forming a club and deciding to steal gum from Old Man Smith's store. "EVERYBODY" agrees because everybody gets something out of the decision to steal ( even those who hesitate when the hands-raised vote takes place ).

Ain't it nice to live in a place where so much difference of opinion not only is permitted; it's encouraged !

Wiki's page on Auster is worth reading. The quotation herein strikes a chord with me, partly because during my 85 years, I've been both a not-complaining "giver" and a little bit of a feeling-guilty "taker." Perhaps few, if any, can claim to consistently be one or the other. As to NEEDS vs. RIGHTS: a large can of the proverbial night crawlers !

Wayne ... no hi-falutin' ego-pronouncements from you ... just a simple observation. So many apparently NEED to expound on THEIR theories of the original, which as you observe, is profound.

Maybe he was trying to say "Speak kindly."
Surely we disregard that advice even more now than then.

Wonderful lady whose pronouncements were far deeper than many may have realized, e.g.; this one ! ( I wonder if Ms. Lederer was related to Bill Lederer, whose name I recall from bell-hopping at Middlebury College's Summer Writers' Conference at the Bread Loaf campus ? )

Are you listening, Mr. President ?

When we issue flat critiques, we need to quantify quality.
My dad was a damned smart man, a product of "public schools." I didn't learn half as much ... and it wasn't the fault of "the schools." Mr. Sowell, take your eye off the high-powered lens of your chosen microscope and examine other facets of "education."

Joe of Rochester, MI: then there are those who have "tenure," which means regardless of how wild the precepts they teach, they CANNOT be fired. The phrase is "free inquiry," not dogma taught by those who feel they are the cognoscenti.

And since his day, we've made headway ???

I trust the General's accuracy has been permanently displayed somewhere: this is a truism rarely understood.

Sorry -- I should have indicated I meant Basho's comment.
( Not to disparage Mike, but .. y'know what I mean ?! )

Such brevity, such wisdom.