
Magna Carta subordinated the king to written rule of law and protected the rebellious barons’ rights, including from illegal imprisonment. It states: “No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions … except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.”
by Jamie Gass6 Jun 2015, 6:45 AM PST0

“When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations,” President John F. Kennedy said in the fall of 1963, memorializing poet Robert Frost at Amherst College. “When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.”
by Jamie Gass25 Apr 2015, 9:45 AM PST0

“The Irish are perhaps the only people in our history with the distinction of having a political party, the Know-Nothings, formed against them,” wrote John F. Kennedy in his 1958 book, A Nation of Immigrants. Today, few people realize that the Massachusetts Constitution has two Know-Nothing-style amendments, which still thrust their mid-19th century bigotry into our world.
by Jamie Gass17 Mar 2015, 5:58 AM PST0

“A soothsayer bids you beware the Ides of March,” Brutus warns Roman dictator Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy. March 15 is the “Ides of March,” one of the most important events in the political history of western civilization, the anniversary of Julius Caesar’s assassination.
by Jamie Gass12 Mar 2015, 12:04 PM PST0