On whether one wishes to bother with self-government

 

 

   A tragic illusion,
   you say, and never
   yet have you been
   proved wrong. Yet,
   without it, there
   can be no others.

   From which side,
   then, do you dream:
   on the outside, be-
   ing shrewd, or the
   inside, otherwise?

   We return to bil-
   dungsroman to per-
   petuate our losses,
   you may say, or to
   praise the beloved.

Adam Liptak 

  on the ordeal of James Risen

The New York Times

June 2, 2014