Edmund Burke might forgive me for adapting the following
passage from his “Reflections on the Revolution in France” (1790) to make it
more plainly relevant to the revolution that is, haltingly, underway in today’s
Illinois.
Circumstances . . . give in reality to every
political principle its distinguishing color and discriminating effect. The
circumstances are what render every civil and political scheme beneficial or
noxious to mankind. Abstractedly speaking, government, as well as liberty, is
good; yet could I, in common sense. . . felicitate [Illinois] on her enjoyment of
a government . . . without inquiry what the nature of that government was, or
how it was administered?
This article appears in Apr 9-15, 2015.
