“Refusing the parlements their right of remonstrance was an act of despotism.
Originally at https://notes.shaunagm.net/post/172563867417/refusing-the-parlements-their-right-of-remonstrance-was-an-act-of-despotism-li
“Refusing the parlements their right of remonstrance was an act of despotism. Liberty had taken shelter in them; it had chosen an irregular method of expressing itself; but since no one had given it another method, it was necessary to allow it that one.”
Prosper de Barante, Des Communes et de l”aristocratie, quoted in Jacob Levy’s Rationalism, Pluralism and Freedom
This resonates very powerfully with how I feel about the FBI these days. I do not like the FBI as an institution, but liberty has taken shelter in it.