Fynes Morrison Quotes
For magistrates often changed, like hungry flies suck more blood, and as the devil rageth more because his time is short, so these magistrates, fearing soon to be recalled, are not so much bent to reform the commonwealth the fruit whereof should be reaped by the successor, as they are vigilant to enrich themselves and their followers.
Before there was a separation of powers, the term “magistrate” referred to public officials who had the executive and judicial powers as well as some legislative authority. The term “Chief Magistrate” applied to the President of the United States is somewhat of a throwback to this older term and concept. In 17th century Ireland, magistrates were the chief authorities of each subarea, and corruption was rampant. To this day, the invitation to corruption and lack of long term interest in governance is given to support long terms of office and to oppose term limits.
Fynes Morrison, *, Irish historian and scholar, The Commonwealth of Ireland, c. 1600
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Johnson, after replacing Lincoln, started removing Lincoln appointees, particularly those who were aggressive reconstructionists and replacing them with others who generally were less aggressive in protecting Negro rights. “Going into the field” was the code word of the time for being in combat in the Civil War. He tried to label the civilian Lincoln appointees negatively, justifying their replacement. At the time there was no Civil Service system so even relatively minor officials were replaced. He was impeached by the house and retained his office by a single vote although the majority of the Senate voted to convict him.
Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis
She was the first Black woman to be elected to Congress and was the first Black woman to actively campaign for the Presidency
The United States had just ousted the popularly elected leader Patrice Lumumba {640611}, and backed Mobuto. Lumumba was an idealist who was not corrupt at all, but were not so sure about our new protégé. Sadly he turned out to be one of the worst kleptocrats of all time, and he stole with more United States money than we gave to many nations in toto. Many believe that one of the reasons, corruption of our “allied” leaders was so bad lies in the wording of this cable. Note that to the State Department writers there was “normal” corruption as opposed to excessive corruption. Once that view is taken there is a constant battle to determine whether each new act of corruption is “normal “ or not, and corruption is simply lessened by pushing back against the most abnormal schemes. These critics advocate a zero tolerance for corruption especially with United States AID money. The State Department has been ambivalent and have often used the corruption system to bribe leaders to obtain national objectives.
