Chief among the forces affecting political folly is lust for power, named by Tacitus as "the most flagrant of all passions.

Any person who considers himself, and intends to remain, a member of Western society inherits the Western past from Athens and Jerusalem to Runnymede and Valley Forge, as well as to Watts and Chicago of August 1968. He may ignore it or deny it, but that does not alter the fact. The past sits back and smiles and knows it owns him anyway.

Advice to young Samuel Gompers that might apply in many other areas: "Learn from socialism, but don't join it.

They governed from duty, heritage and habit—and, as they saw it, from right.