A state’s power is not measured only by its weapons systems, alliances or economy. It is also measured by its ability to know what it seeks, maintain its strategic direction and act before its choices are constrained by others

The rights we now treat as self-evident were not granted because power suddenly became generous. They were won through persistent, organized and often painful struggles by people who rejected the rule of their time.

Perhaps, then, we do not simply have the politicians we deserve. Perhaps we have, above all, the politicians whom a closed system selects, promotes and permits to survive