HKB
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Often appears with: corruption, patronage, and bribery · political legitimacy and consent · justice as a virtue · forms of government · faction, party, and civil strife · counsel and advisers to rulers · tories and whigs · states resisting constitutional change · stability and truth in government · senate integrity · royal moral exhortation · resentment and retaliation
Usually: argument (4) · censure (3) · skepticism (3) · indignation (2) · reflection (1) · verse (1) · betrayal (1) · crisis of belief (1) · injustice endured (1) · the fall of the great (1)
“The philosopher should not beg of mankind to be put in authority over them. The wise man should not seek the rich, as the proverb bids, but every man, whether rich or poor, must knock at the door of the physician when he has need of him.” Plato, The Republic · precept
“A man disposed to view human nature as it is, without either flattering its virtues or exaggerating its vices, will see sufficient ground of confidence in the probity of the Senate, to rest satisfied, not only that it will be impracticable to the Executive to corrupt or seduce a majority of its members, but that the necessity of its co-operation, in the business of appointments, will be a considerable and salutary restraint upon the conduct of that magistrate.” Alexander Hamilton; John Jay; James Madison, The Federalist Papers · insight
“Converts from places and pensions are only to be made by places and pensions; all other reasoning is idle; these are the penultima ratio of the tories, as field pieces are the ultima.” John Adams, Novanglus, and Massachusettensis · wit
Answering objections that the executive could bribe Senate members into compliant approvals, the author claims Senators possess probity and constitutional restraints that make broad corruption impracticable.
belonged, or of being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure. To this reasoning it has been objected that the President, by the influence of the power of nomination, may secure the complaisance of the Senate to his views. This supposition of universal venalty in human nature is little less an e…
A Ballad sent to King Richard laments the collapse of steadfastness: bribes, false words, and lust distort truth and virtue, urging the prince to honor people, hate extortion, and restore justice.
Longeus, and was blind; but, touching his eyes by chance with the mingled blood and water that flowed down the shaft upon his hands, he was instantly restored to sight. 9. “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness” (Zech. xiii. 1). A GOODLY BALLAD OF CHAUCER.<1> MOTHER of nurture, best belov’d of all, And freshe flow’r, to wh…
Adeimantus and Socrates liken over-legislation in bad states to sick people constantly seeking ineffective cures, warning that such politicians only make fraud worse instead of healing it toward perfection.
Yes, I said, my friend, if God will only preserve to them the laws which we have given them. And without divine help, said Adeimantus, they will go on for ever making and mending their laws and their lives in the hope of attaining perfection. You would compare them, I said, to those invalids who, having no self-restraint, will not leave off their habits of intemperance? Exactly. Yes, I said; and what a delightful…
Adeimantus challenges the claim that philosophers can rule, and Socrates answers with a parable of a ship captain seized by mutinous sailors, blaming the mob and degraded philosophers for refusing genuine leadership.
Here Adeimantus interposes:—‘No man can answer you, Socrates; but every man feels that this is owing to his own deficiency in argument. He is driven from one position to another, until he has nothing more to say, just as an unskilful player at draughts is reduced to his last move by a more skilled opponent. And yet all the time he may be right. He may know, in this very instance, that those who make philosophy the bu…
Glaucon challenges feasibility, and Socrates reframes their search for justice as an ideal not fully realizable in fact, then introduces the argument that only philosopher-kings can end political evils and enable the city’s possibility.
Agreed; and we may agree also in thinking that these, like all our previous enactments, are very good. But still I must say, Socrates, that if you are allowed to go on in this way you will entirely forget the other question which at the commencement of this discussion you thrust aside:—Is such an order of things possible, and how, if at all? For I am quite ready to acknowledge that the plan which you propose, if onl…
John Adams argues that pro-ministry “fugitives” and shifting politicians oppose their country, lack real principles, and are motivated mainly by places and pensions, spreading resentment rather than unity.
was never yet extended in any country so far, as the utter subversion of all religion and morality; nor as the abolition of the laws and constitution of the country. But "are not these persons as closely connected with the interest of their country as the whigs?" I answer, they are not: they have found an interest in opposition to that of their country, and are making themselves rich and their families illustrious, …