From: "E. ALLEN SMITH" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>
Date: Tue, 7 May 1996 12:07:15 +0800
To: attila@primenet.com
Subject: Re: Why Leahy is No Friend of Ours
Message-ID: <01I4E3O2J8068Y583T@mbcl.rutgers.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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From:	IN%"attila@primenet.com"  "attila"  5-MAY-1996 21:36:54.93

>        how many _truly_ "populist" presidents have we elected? 

	Given the numbers of times that a democracy has done more harm than
good to civil liberties (Prohibition, the election of Islamic Fundamentalists
in Algeria, etcetera), we don't _want_ a "populist"/demagogue president. We
want someone in charge (to whatever degree that someone has to be in charge)
who will respect civil liberties. The masses aren't going to elect such a
person; they prefer protection to liberty and always will.

>           "They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little 
>               temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
>                        --Ben Franklin (Historical Review of PA -1759)
>
>    and, the bottom line is:
>
>              "It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen
>                  from falling into error; 
>               it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government 
>                  from falling into error."
>                             --Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954), U.S. Judge

	Quite.
	-Allen