The small Hitlers are around us every day.

All is forgiven to kings and popes. History grants them immunity, even a full pardon, even when they admit their crimes and glory in them.

It is almost a general rule that nations do not decline gradually. Instead they fall abruptly from their greatest heights.

Historically the first philosopher to enquire deeply into the nature of corruption in society was Ibn Khaldun (1322-1406), whose wandering life was largely spent in the northern littoral of Africa at a time when kingdoms and sultanates were crumbling.

Long before the empire had reached its greatest extent, the Romans were bored by it.

The second corruption of the state is oligarchy (oligos = few), in which the military elite is narrowed down to a few ruling families of immense wealth and prestige, who now openly flaunt their wealth and possessions.

The corrupt, when found out, become especially good moralists.

The corrupt man is nearly always rootless, deeply aware of his rootlessness.

The United States is dangerously close to being a plutocracy. A third of the private wealth is owned by less than 5 percent of the population.

For domination has nothing whatsoever to do with good government, and power as an end in itself destroys good government.