The Arrogance of Power

[cayuga]

In 1966 at the Johns Hopkins University, US Senator James William Fulbright,(D) Arkansas, delivered a powerful indicment on the “arrogance of power”. On that occasion, Fulbright also said: “There are many respects in which America, if it can bring itself to act with the magnanimity and the empathy appropriate to its size and power, can be an intelligent example to the world.”

http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/fulbright.html

This speech was about Vietnam.

Thirty-seven years later, Sen. Robert Byrd. (D), WVA echoed the admonitions of Fulbright, but this time it was another far-off country that was the object of Senator Byrds' 'Today, I Weep for my Country' speech.

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0319-04.htm

The textbooks of history are littered with the lessons that were lost on arrogant leaders, their arrogance leading to the 'have and the 'have-nots'. And there usually are more of the latter than the former. The Fall of the Roman Empire, the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Boxer Rebellion, the Indian Mutiny, etc., all boil down to one thing. Arrogance. And the beat goes on.
We have a duty to do.

Today, I weep for my country.