Posts in Government
Words Worth Noting - April 6, 2023

“As if to underline the national decline [in Britain in the 1970s ], every flailing industry flew the moth-eaten flag: British Steel, British Coal, British Leyland. They were all owned by the state – even the last, which was the national automobile manufacturer. The government had taken all the famous British car marques – Austin, Morris, Rover, Jaguar, Triumph – and merged them into one. That’s right: the government made your car. Or, rather, a man called Red Robbo did, when he was in the mood, which wasn’t terribly often.”

Obit of James Callaghan by Mark Steyn in The Atlantic Monthly June 2005.

Words Worth Noting - April 5, 2023

“A boy plays at being a soldier or at being a brigand, but have you ever known a boy who played at being a lawyer? A child does not want self-government. A child wants to have a good time; and it is our business, who know how short but how creative is his time in Eden, to give him a good time. But you cannot have a good time if you have self-government. Personal self-government is a most horrible nuisance. Public self-government is worse.”

G.K. Chesterton “Childish Talk About Children” reprinted in Gilbert The Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 25 #6 (July/August 2022) [yes it’s a lot of Chesterton this week; I can’t help it that he was so wise and so eloquent].