When these men of a contemptuous nature are long gone, dead a buried, not one word of the law will be erased.

The big dog is about to get off of the porch.

History will not be kind to the current administration or its apologists.

Infatuation with power seems to be cyclical. And I genuinely believe we are close to the end of our current national misjudgement.

I remember reading that play in old apartheid era South Africa and thinking of the thickets of law that heartily deserved cutting down and were immoral for me to obey.

My choice then was obey the ethically neutral, refuse to uphold the bad, and ignore (unless a cop was actually looking at the time) evil laws.

However, the more I find out about what was actually happening in those times, the less satisfied I am with what and how I personally reacted.

I'm older now, I know a lot more about how things work now, and I think Thomas More would have been a typical white english South African whose inaction  condoned and encouraged so much evil.

ie. I don't think Thomas More was a Saint of ethical behaviour, he was merely yet another Sheep, the like of which is so beloved of those who seek power.

The playwright sets up Roper as the alternative to More. But the space of alternatives is far larger. Ghandi is a prime example of an activist alternative.

... at a global American company.  Two of our managers are ex marines colonels and clearly Republican.  The husband of one of my colleagues is a marine captain stationed close to Faludja (she has a 1 year old daughter).

Our admin/business analyst from Oklahoma I always filled under the category of blindly following Republican ever since she proudly announced the arrival of one of her grand-sons in an email as: "Here's another one for the marine corps!"

The other night at an informal get-together after we had our yearly internal team meeting she surprised me by turning to me and inquiring how Germany managed after WW2 to be that well liked in the world because America clearly was not.  She also felt free to make a disparaging remark about Bush.  Mind you, this was not an overtly private conversation, several of my colleagues including the deployed marine's wife participated in it.

This re-emphasized two things for me: Never underestimate red-state Americans.  Never give up the hope in your fellow citizens.  After all most people are not suicidal and want to be liked.  Once they realize how America's foreign policy is clearly at odds with that it will matter.

At this point I believe the tide is truly turning.