Wendell Berry :
Our Constitution, by its separation of powers and its system of checks and balances, acts as a restraint upon efficiency by denying exclusive power to any branch of government. The logic of governmental efficiency, unchecked, runs straight on, not only to dictatorship, but also to torture, assassination, and other abominations.
#
Liberty
Gift it
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=69795&author=Wendell Berry"e=Our+Constitution%2C+by+its+separation+of+powers+and+its+system+of+checks+and+balances%2C+acts+as+a+restraint+upon+efficiency+by+denying+exclusive+power+to+any+branch+of+government.+The+logic+of+governmental+efficiency%2C+unchecked%2C+runs+straight+on%2C+not+only+to+dictatorship%2C+but+also+to+torture%2C+assassination%2C+and+other+abominations.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1686%2FWendell+Berry_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=80143&author=William O Douglas"e=Big+Brother+in+the+form+of+an+increasingly+powerful+government+and+in+an+increasingly+powerful+private+sector+will+pile+the+records+high+with+reasons+why+privacy+should+give+way+to+national+security%2C+to+law+and+order%2C+to+efficiency+of+operation%2C+to+scientific+advancement+and+the+like.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F10662%2FWilliam+O_Douglas_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=14782&author=Woodrow T Wilson"e=++Liberty+has+never+come+from+government.+Liberty+has+always+come+from+the+subjects+of+it.+The+history+of+liberty+is+a+history+of+resistance.+The+history+of+liberty+is+a+history+of+limitations+of+governmental+power%2C+not+the+increase+of+it.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1268%2FWoodrow+T+Wilson_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=51519&author=Nadia Boulanger"e=Liberty+has+never+come+from+the+government.+Liberty+has+always+come+from+the+subjects+of+it.+The+history+of+liberty+is+a+history+of+resistance.+The+history+of+liberty+is+a+history+of+limitations+of+governmental+power%2C+not+the+increase+of+it.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F2377%2FNadia+Boulanger_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=89241&author=Charles Evans Hughes"e=No+greater+mistake+can+be+made+than+to+think+that+our+institutions+are+fixed+or+may+not+be+changed+for+the+worse.+...+Increasing+prosperity+tends+to+breed+indifference+and+to+corrupt+moral+soundness.+Glaring+inequalities+in+condition+create+discontent+and+strain+the+democratic+relation.+The+vicious+are+the+willing%2C+and+the+ignorant+are+unconscious+instruments+of+political+artifice.+Selfishness+and+demagoguery+take+advantage+of+liberty.+The+selfish+hand+constantly+seeks+to+control+government%2C+and+every+increase+of+governmental+power%2C+even+to+meet+just+needs%2C+furnishes+opportunity+for+abuse+and+stimulates+the+effort+to+bend+it+to+improper+uses.+..+The+peril+of+this+Nation+is+not+in+any+foreign+foe%21+We%2C+the+people%2C+are+its+power%2C+its+peril%2C+and+its+hope%21%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F9415%2FCharles+Evans+Hughes_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=57571&author=Harry Emerson Fosdick"e=When+you+have+an+efficient+government%2C+you+have+a+dictatorship.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F8015%2FHarry+Emerson_Fosdick_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=9208&author=Harry S Truman"e=++Whenever+you+have+an+efficient+government%2C+you+have+a+dictatorship.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F15223%2FHarry+S_Truman_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=80126&author=William O Douglas"e=All+executive+power+%E2%80%94+from+the+reign+of+ancient+kings+to+the+rule+of+modern+dictators+-+has+the+outward+appearance+of+efficiency.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F10662%2FWilliam+O_Douglas_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=106498&author=Paul Craig Roberts"e=If+we+add+state+capitalism+to+the+Bush+administration%E2%80%99s+success+in+eroding+both+the+US+Constitution+and+the+power+of+Congress%2C+we+may+be+witnessing+the+final+death+of+accountable+constitutional+government.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F14928%2FPaul+Craig_Roberts_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=72340&author=Edmund Burke"e=Whatever+is+supreme+in+a+state%2C+ought+to+have%2C+as+much+as+possible%2C+its+judicial+authority+so+constituted+as+not+only+not+to+depend+upon+it%2C+but+in+some+sort+to+balance+it.+It+ought+to+give+a+security+to+its+justice+against+its+power.+It+ought+to+make+its+judicature%2C+as+it+were%2C+something+exterior+to+the+state.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F126%2FEdmund+Burke_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=24819&author=Olive Schreiner"e=++Power%21+Did+you+ever+hear+of+men+being+asked+whether+other+souls+should+have+power+or+not%3F+It+is+born+in+them.+You+may+dam+up+the+fountain+of+water%2C+and+make+it+a+stagnant+marsh%2C+or+you+may+let+it+run+free+and+do+its+work%3B+but+you+cannot+say+whether+it+shall+be+there%3B+it+is+there.+And+it+will+act%2C+if+not+openly+for+good%2C+then+covertly+for+evil%3B+but+it+will+act.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1184%2FOlive+Schreiner_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=46649&author=Wendell Berry"e=In+health+the+flesh+is+graced%2C+the+holy+enters+the+world.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1686%2FWendell+Berry_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=46648&author=Wendell Berry"e=To+cherish+what+remains+of+the+Earth+and+to+foster+its+renewal+is+our+only+legitimate+hope+of+survival.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1686%2FWendell+Berry_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=69801&author=Wendell Berry"e=Our+century+of+war%2C+militarism%2C+and+political+terror+has+produced+great%E2%80%94and+successful%E2%80%94advocates+of+true+peace%2C+among+whom+Mohandas+Gandhi+and+Martin+Luther+King%2C+Jr.%2C+are+the+paramount+examples.+The+considerable+success+that+they+achieved+testifies+to+the+presence%2C+in+the+midst+of+violence%2C+of+an+authentic+and+powerful+desire+for+peace+and%2C+more+important%2C+of+the+proven+will+to+make+the+necessary+sacrifices.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1686%2FWendell+Berry_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=69821&author=Wendell Berry"e=So%2C+friends%2C+every+day+do+something%0Athat+won%27t+compute.+Love+the+Lord.%0ALove+the+world.+Work+for+nothing.%0ATake+all+that+you+have+and+be+poor.%0ALove+someone+who+does+not+deserve+it.%0ADenounce+the+government+and+embrace%0Athe+flag.+Hope+to+live+in+that+free%0Arepublic+for+which+it+stands.%0AGive+your+approval+to+all+you+cannot%0Aunderstand.+Praise+ignorance%2C+for+what+man%0Ahas+not+encountered+he+has+not+destroyed.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1686%2FWendell+Berry_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=69784&author=Wendell Berry"e=Eating+is+an+agricultural+act.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1686%2FWendell+Berry_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=69765&author=Wendell Berry"e=If+I+solve+my+dispute+with+my+neighbor+by+killing+him%2C+I+have+certainly+solved+the+immediate+dispute.+If+my+neighbor+was+a+scoundrel%2C+then+the+world+is+no+doubt+better+for+his+absence.+But+in+killing+my+neighbor%2C+though+he+may+have+been+a+terrible+man+who+did+not+deserve+to+live%2C+I+have+made+myself+a+killer%E2%80%94and+the+life+of+my+next+neighbor+is+in+greater+peril+than+the+life+of+the+last.+In+making+myself+a+killer+I+have+destroyed+the+possibility+of+neighborhood.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1686%2FWendell+Berry_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=69777&author=Wendell Berry"e=We+are+living+in+the+most+destructive+and%2C+hence%2C+the+most+stupid+period+of+the+history+of+our+species.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1686%2FWendell+Berry_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=69787&author=Wendell Berry"e=Reductionism+%28ultimately%2C+the+empirical+explanability+of+everything+and+a+cornerstone+of+science%29%2C+has+uses+that+are+appropriate%2C+and+it+also+can+be+used+inappropriately.+It+is+appropriately+used+as+a+way+%28one+way%29+of+understanding+what+is+empirically+known+or+empirically+knowable.+When+it+becomes+merely+an+intellectual+%22position%22+confronting+what+is+not+empirically+known+or+knowable%2C+then+it+becomes+very+quickly+absurd%2C+and+also+grossly+desensitizing+and+false.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1686%2FWendell+Berry_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=69800&author=Wendell Berry"e=In+a+modern+war%2C+fought+with+modern+weapons+and+on+the+modern+scale%2C+neither+side+can+limit+to+%E2%80%9Cthe+enemy%E2%80%9D+the+damage+that+it+does.+These+wars+damage+the+world.+We+know+enough+by+now+to+know+that+you+cannot+damage+a+part+of+the+world+without+damaging+all+of+it.+Modern+war+has+not+only+made+it+impossible+to+kill+%E2%80%9Ccombatants%E2%80%9D+without+killing+%E2%80%9Cnoncombatants%2C%E2%80%9D+it+has+made+it+impossible+to+damage+your+enemy+without+damaging+yourself.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1686%2FWendell+Berry_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=3761&author=Wendell Berry"e=++It+is+not+from+ourselves+that+we+learn+to+be+better+than+we+are.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1686%2FWendell+Berry_64x64.png){kind=link}