January 26, 2025

The Confederacy [i.e., the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865] has been done to death by politicians.

Mary Chesnut (1823-1886), American diarist and Confederate supporter, Diary,1863; cited in Ken Burns, The Civil War, 1989, episode 4, Jay p.83

How often have you heard the usual bad-mouthing of politicians like yourself, while earnestly believing you did not deserve it?

The citizenry cannot vote out a bureaucrat whom they hold responsible for some failure, nor drum out a general following some defeat. So they blame us. Get over it. It goes with the job.