“Back In The Day…”

“The only maxim of a free government
ought to be to trust no man living
with power to endanger
the public liberty.”    –John Adams

I never wanted to grow old and hear
myself say, “Well, back in the day…”
The danger of re-writing history
is too great, the probability
of redaction too high.

Yet, in my limited ability to revisit
yesterday, I miss the presence
and influence of men and
women who wore the mantle
and assumed the responsibility
of a noble calling.

Statesmen

We called them Statesmen and
bestowed upon them our
trust, our hopes for a
better tomorrow, our
future as a free people.

Human, yes.  Fallible, of course.
And they knew those words
well, yet rose above them
through acts of integrity
and decisions justly
made for the benefit
of all.

We spoke of them as Servants
of Civility and Law.  But it is
no longer yesterday.  It is
no longer yesterday.

“The accumulation of all powers,
legislative, executive, and judiciary,
in the same hands, whether heredity,
self-appointed, or elective, may
justly be pronounced the very
definition of tyranny.”
    –James Madison