The Ides of March is behind us (March 15), plus the 15th day of May, July and October, await under the ancient Roman calendar, so we can relax, think about the Giants’ opening day on April 5 at Oracle Park and Earth Day and Passover on April 22.
The late great U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once observed: “The only title in our democracy superior to that of president is the title of citizen.”
“Far more important to me is, that I should be loyal to what I regard as the law of my political belief, which is this: A belief that a country is best governed, which is least governed.” On June 19, 1972, one George Hoadley so declared at the Ohio Constitutional Convention, the third Constitutional Convention in Ohio’s history as a state.
Thomas Jefferson supposedly declared: “Democracy is cumbersome, slow and inefficient, but in due time, the voice of the people will be heard, and their latent wishes will prevail.”
The unreliability of American and San Francisco media today is not new to our country. Neither is the people’s right to discard biased, unsound judges.
Chief Justice Earl Warren of the United States Supreme Court in the 1950s and ‘60s (who swore me in as a lawyer entitled to practice law in the U.S. Supreme Court, which I never did!), when governor of California, began a political address thusly: “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m pleased to see the dense crowd here tonight.” A voice from the back shouted: “Don’t be too pleased. We ain’t all dense!”
Words of wisdom include the observation that a criminal doesn’t care who makes the laws of this country so long as they are not enforced.
It was Oscar Wilde who observed: “Hear no evil, speak no evil and you won’t be invited to cocktail parties.” That underpins Mahatma Gandhi’s judgment: “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”
A collection of quips includes a 1930’s question: “If Congress can pay farmers not to raise crops, why can’t we pay Congress not to raise taxes?”
President Woodrow Wilson, also former president of Princeton University and governor of New Jersey, a Democrat, once observed: “The history of liberty is the history of the limitations on the power of government.” And the provenance of government usually expands on federal, state and local levels.
In a Dec. 6, 1962, speech in New York City, then-assistant secretary of defense stated: “I think the inherent right of the government to lie to save itself when faced with nuclear disaster is basic.” The California High Speed Rail Authority’s Northern California Regional Director Boris Lipkin in the San Mateo Daily Journal’s Nov. 17, 2022, edition applied such falsity doctrine to that failed project. (I have publicly pleaded guilty of creating such state body with 1996 legislation as a then-state senator.)
On April 19, 1972, John B. Connally, Jr., then-U.S. secretary of the treasury, declared at the American Society of Newspaper Editors meeting in Washington, D.C.: “A democracy unsatisfied (by support of the people] cannot long survive…. We live in )robably the most turbulent and tormented times in the history of this nation. Criticize … disagree, yes, but also we have as leaders an obligation to be fair and keep in perspective what we are and what we hope to be.”
It has been a new year at City Hall where Supervisor Aaron Peskin from Telegraph Hill was elected president after 11 roll call votes by our district heroes, almost tying Congressman Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield for roll call votes. This columnist wishes President Peskin two years of leadership achievement. My hero, U.S. President Harry Truman, once reminded Americans: “America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, imagination and all the unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”
As San Francisco – after spirited Nov. 8 local, state and national elections – begins to celebrate Chanukah on Dec. 18 (for eight nights) and Christmas on Dec. 25, nothing destroys the holiday spirit faster than not finding a place to park. You know how holiday gift packages say: “Open Here”? What should you do if the package says “Open Somewhere Else”? I hereby cease and desist my strident ripostes.
Please do not allow Quentin Kopp to be denied his say. I always look forward to his column in your paper.
Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 