And one of the problems with totalitarian regiemes is that they can't even make their own rope.

hmmmm...I always thought that was Shakespeare.

Why? becasue they eliminated the draft.

We have become so acquiesced to corruption as common place that politics is definitely the beneficiary of this fatalism. Who knew that Nixon would leave behind a legacy that gave more permission to government to be corrupt, not less.

In the age of the glut of information, sound bites that have displaced in depth news, and the short attention span of the masses, there must be more than just lip service (pun intended) to the notion of free speech.I think in this quote an essential observation that makes it profound is the last word 'time'. Without that a plethera of arguments get lost in the babble of the blogosphere.

This quote can be broken down into its three sentences and each separately send out a ripple of many implications. You could ask a high school english class to choose one of the sentences and write an essay on it. To the first I would say that all men have talents but too often they are willing surpressed so as not to face the challenge of being a self realized human being. To the second, that the self must not only be aware of the implications of freedom but take the action necessary to meet it half way. And to the last, conformity is the step child of despotism in all its manifestations.

Help from the 'gods' is really funny when you thinnk he was talking about Zeus and his entourage. But then I guess it shows how human belief in deities with the power to intervene directly in human affairs is a standard that continues to define the western judaeo-christian-islamic tradition. Not the best thing from the Greeks that was passed down through the ages.

In this land, and perhaps the world, where a vast majority of people are susceptible to the dictums of authoritarian despots, this is as true as it is dangerous and we are living the nightmare.

Not always true, but certainly has been in the last six years.

I believe that the reason most people trust power is that they are collectively submissive to dogmatic thinking in fundamentalist religions that spill over into politics. They cannot think critically or rationally discriminate and have never been given the mandate to think for themselves. The majority in America, even those who voted to change Congress, are still completely seduced by this materialistic paradigm, that by its inherent nature breeds corruption.

Arbitrary power is a term that we accept, but it is a kind of oxymoron, for when it is employed it is never arbitray in the minds of those who wield it. Sadly I would say that today we have moved far beyond arbitray power so nipping it in the bud is no longer an option.

Not even Archer?

Made me laugh and then I realized he probably did not mean it as a joke.

Constitutional law was soundly trumped when the Partiot Act was passed. Imprisoning people without the due process of law, suspension of habaeus corpus, illegal wiretapping and surrveillance, the list goes on. Watching out for the future of the UN is one thing, but a corrupt power obsessed Executive Branch in our own country is achieving alot on its own.

A noble sentiment to be sure, and Thoreau is the master of many. But a free man, operating as independently as is possible in a non-free world, can effect change in ways not open to him were he imprisoned. For all the oppression that we who read these quotes generally concur upon, we at least, even among ourselves, exercise a spirit of free expression that affects the consciousness of the few. It does not diminish my respect for prisoners of conscience who do find their freedom taken from them and are holding their vigil to truth in the prisons of this world.

I love the profound simplicity of Roman thinkers--and Greek for that matter. Was language more precious and prescient then? at least they used it as if it were. Two good books--The Twelve Ceasers by Mchael Grant, and of course Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.

As a generality about the amassing of power by those who covet it, this is a truism. However in the US there are boundless examples where states rights predominate over those of the federal government, and is preferred even by those with their greedy hands on the federal reins--not because of contstiutional law but becasue they want to pass the fallout to others. Significantly (if only one small example), the federal Defense of Marriage Act, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, already ensures that the choices of one state cannot be imposed on others, nor be preempted by the federal by unlegislated mandate.

'sheeple'...now that's funny....

The fundamental change that needs to occur is in realms far removed from politics--politics is the symptom not the cause.

Tomorrow, vote for the end of one party rule.

I like that he uses the word "trade" to describe the profession. It puts them in the used car salesmen category. Even given the disillusionment I have with the leaders that be, I do not disparage all who lead to fall into the category Paine describes.

The most gregious betrayal of this principle is from those who say, "well, I am a law abiding citizen and therefore I have nothing to hide so I don't care if my rights to privacy are violated. I'll never be arrested so I don't need to worry about habeus corpus" Slippery slope.....slippery slope.

Certainly is being used today to the benefit of those whom power has corrupted.

To pass the buck to 'the creator' as the only one who really has unlimited power is such a cop out. Dealing with the GW's and the Idi Amins, the Hitlers and the Stalins, the death squands in Darfur, is the realm in which we witness the humanly relevant effects of unlimited power in the hands of mad men.Taking responsibility in the physical realm for the corruption associated with meglomania is the moral imperative of our time, not posturing that god has anything to do with it. If he did it would not exist.

Not specific as to the subjugation to which he refers.