‘REALLY’ is a reference to my previous post Lewis Lapham gets political. in which I note Mr. Lapham makes some political comments in his introductory essay to the issue of Lapham’s Quarterly Summer 2012: Magic Shows.
I just received the Fall 2012 issue of Lapham’s Quarterly and lo and behold, oh be joyful, the entire theme is POLITICS! How timely and coincidental with the presidential election campaigns in full swing. This is going to be fun!
I’ve been reading the Fall 2011 issue as catch-up but I’m going to put ‘The Future’ on hold and avidly pursue Politics.
The side-bar quotes that are generously sprinkled throughout the issue are priceless. Here is a sampling:
“The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.” –G.K. Chesterton, 1908 (p. 14)
“There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.” –Walter Baghot, 1863 (p. 17)
“Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.” –Ambrose Pierce, 1906 (p. 19)
“Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.” –Paul Valery, 1943 (p. 24)
“Every country has the government it deserves.” –Joseph de Maistre, 1811 (p. 27)
“My people and I have come to an agreement that satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please.” –Frederick the Great, c. 1770 (p. 28)
“Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses: they last while they last.” –Charles de Gaulle, 1963 (p. 43)
“Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.” –John Wilkes Booth, 1865 (p. 47)
“A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.” –George Bernard Shaw, 1944 (p. 63)
“The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.” –Tacitus, c. 117 (p. 74)
“Conservative, n. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.” –Ambrose Pierce, 1906 (p. 80)
“Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.” –Shimon Peres, 1995 (p. 84)
You get the idea. Find this issue NOW and see what the likes of Herodotus, Twain, Jefferson, Thucydides, de Tocqueville, and Monty Python have to say about POLITICS.
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