

Mercuriou: "I've also learned that no matter what we've done, no
matter how badly we've faltered and fallen, that God offers
redemption, which means he offers us a way forward, without letting us
completely off the hook.  My way forward will not be yours, but yours
can be different.  Embrace Christ, I say, embrace Christ, and
build a new nation!"


-----


"We're going to overthrow a government, and we're going to have fun
doing it!"


-----


"Democracy, if it works at all, needs be confined to a legislature.
Checks and balances on power are useless if all branches of government
are selected in essentially the same way.  The independence of the
judiciary needs be strengthened; we need no more judges who mouth 'the
law; the law; the law' at confirmation hearings.  We really need no
more confirmation hearings at all.  Let the bar association select the
judges by its own criterion; the legislature needs only the power to
remove judges by impeachment, if that."

"Likewise the executive must not be chosen by election.  The
hereditary monarchies preferred by so much of humanity for so long
were inadequate, as the skills required to govern can not be chanced
on genetics alone.  The single most distinguished feature of the Roman
Empire was the personal selection of future emperors by their own
predecessors.  Perhaps a council of bishops could be convened to
approve the choice, and the legislature again be given only the
ability to impeach."

"Large republics, no matter their organization, are by nature
impossible, at least in the present age, and likely in any other.
Presently, we live in a TV democracy, one where the President of the
United States is chosen on a TV game show, a hugely elaborate and
expensive one with stages all over the country, banners, ballons,
speeches and debates, all carried out on national TV and then decided
by voters with an average IQ of 100."

"This has produced a disaster of Soviet Union proportions.  It has
troops all over the planet; if I were Gengus Khan I would not want
troops in 167 nations and territories.  It has built the largest
prison state in the world; by either percentages or total numbers,
America imprisons more people than any other nation in the world.  It
is at war with its own people over guns and drugs; it has built a wall
across its southern border to keep out people who want decent jobs
rather than the junk that's been outsourced; it has enough national
debt to last half a century.  The Constitution is dead, the government
exercises sweeping power, and all people scream for is 'vote the bums
out', which sure sounds to me like 'we want another round of the game
show'!"

"You can't choose a President on a TV game show.  Period.  I have 172
IQ, and I don't know how to do it.  I can just barely get my mind
around the problems of Hawaii.  It's a big challenge.  I have no idea
how to run America.  Nobody does.  We've built this gargantuan monster
called the Federal Government.  Nobody has ever figured out how to
manage it; and we're not even doing a particularly good job at the
state level, either.  The best thing I can figure how to do is take it
apart.  If democracy is going to have any chance at all, it's got to
be done at the retail level, where candidates can walk around and
shake hands, and it's got to be restrained within a clear framework of
government."

"We might as well try it in Hawaii!  Run the state from Honolulu
instead of Washington!  It took Ormat 7 years to get one permit from
the EPA to install a geothermal generating station on the big island.
We won't ignore the environment, but the permit needs to take 7
months, not 7 years, so right now there's not even much point in
running for governor.  Maybe by the end of your second term in office
you'll get permits for your first few ideas."
